


The Great Divide Between Your World and Mine

by fallsintograce



Series: Various Bang Fics [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Almost Death experience, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Anger, Anxiety, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Blood, But it ends happily ever after, Confident Katsuki Yuuri, F/M, Fire, Gen, Georgi is possessed by spirits, Happy Ending, I promise, Jealous ghosts, Jump Scares, M/M, Near Death Experience, Nightmares, No one can use a Ouija board, Phichit becomes a ghost hunter, The friendly ghost ships everyone and everything, Violence, mental torment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-12 11:52:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallsintograce/pseuds/fallsintograce
Summary: Before the World Championships, the skaters are all sent to stay at the infamous haunted hotel, The Onyx Hotel. Although the rumors of ghosts are floating around, they soon come to see that they are true. The hotel is inhabited with two ghosts. One is friendly and wants to keep everyone comfortable. The other one is nasty to everyone but Yuuri and willing to get rid of anyone in its way. In particular, it wants to get rid of Victor and cross over to the other side to be with Yuuri. Yuuri realizes that in order to save himself, his friends, and the love of his life, he must get the two ghosts together and have them cross into the afterlife together. If he fails, he could lose everything he loves.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At long last, I reveal my Big Bang On Ice fic! I'm going to warn a few things. Please note the tags of violence, torment, anxiety, and near death/almost death experiences. People will get hurt in this fic, namely Victor. When I say there's a nasty ghost, it is a REALLY nasty ghost. It is partially a suspense/horror story because they are dealing with the supernatural here. In particular, Chapter 6 will have a moment that may be upsetting. HOWEVER, this fic does have a **happy ending**. (I had to emphasize that). Everyone will be together in the end. You cannot say I didn't warn you.
> 
> A thank you to my artists, Sol & Pom, for helping me out and Pom for catching some of my tiny errors here and there. I think I got them all. If I didn't, I apologize and I will fix them asap. Right now, my eyes are crossing back and forth.
> 
> ETA: I have finally acquired one fanart for this fic from Sol! Check out this art for Chapter 6 here! [Amazing artwork from sol!](https://fallsintograce.tumblr.com/post/171068857394)

The Onyx Hotel horrors, which began the moment the hotel opened and wouldn’t end for awhile, was the one thing on people’s minds. Even with the World Championships right around the corner, all they could think about was what was happening in the fancy hotel nearby. All the skaters had some time before check in so they were trying to pass the hours by visiting nearby art galleries and gardens. 

The one gallery that stood out to them the most was the unique and bizarre art gallery. They found themselves at a couple of ‘period pieces’ in which artists used their menstrual blood to create works of art. It was unique all right and some of the paintings were incredible. Everyone was especially drawn to the painting of a beautiful castle painted entirely out of blood. The artist had put a lot of work into it but the smell was still lingering in the air.

“What the fuck?” Yuri Plisetsky muttered when he read the story behind the painting. “Why couldn’t they just paint it like any normal painter would?” 

“Then it wouldn’t be unique, Yurio.” Victor Nikiforov pointed with a chuckle. That laughter soon turned into a cough, causing the other two to step away from him. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I still have a little cough but I’m fine.”

“That cough has been lingering for a while.” Yuuri Katsuki, Victor’s pupil and boyfriend, pointed out. “Face it. You are still sick. It’s the only reason Yakov isn’t allowing you to compete this time around. You’re not well enough to compete. I’m surprised he’s allowing you to coach me.”

Victor wiped his nose and took a deep breath. “I told Yakov I’m getting better. I have competed while I had a cold before.”

“You had the flu, idiot!” Yuri snapped. “Katsudon is right for once. No one wants to compete with you and your germs! Stay away from everyone, okay?”

“Ah, are you worried that I’m going to rub my germs on you?”

“Fucking hell, Victor! I’m serious! No one else wants to get sick!”

Victor might have been laughing but Yuuri was still worried about him. He was much better off than he had been a few weeks ago. During practices, he had fallen over because of how sick he was. Eventually, he became so ill that he couldn’t get out of bed. Doctors had told him to get plenty of rest and that he needed to stay away from the ice. His coach, Yakov, agreed that this was the best thing for everyone. Victor wanted to stay but reluctantly agreed to drop out. The only thing he asked was to continue being Yuuri’s coach. He could stay on the sidelines and still be a part of everything.

As for Yuuri, he was happy to see that his lover was getting better. Victor was able to go to places and have fun. He didn’t seem to get tired too quickly. The only remnants of his illness that remained were his cough and stuffy nose. With medication, it would go away in time. The cold meds that he had made him a little drowsy so he didn’t take them until night. For now, he just wanted to enjoy the time he was spending with everyone.

Things were still fine when they went to their hotel to check in. It wasn’t the typical bed and breakfast nor did it look like it. In fact, the only way they knew they were in the right place was because of the sign out in front. All the skaters were ogling it in awe. 

"The Onyx Hotel." Yuuri read the sign out loud. "It doesn't look much like a hotel."

“I know! Doesn’t it look cool?!” Phichit looked at the gargoyles standing around outside. “Apparently, it used to be a castle or a fortress or something like that. We’re lucky that we get to stay here. It’s also very close to everything.”

“I guess so. I still have a funny feeling about it. It’s so huge.”

The hotel was much bigger than they had imagined. It had nine floors and every wall seemed to be decorated with fancy paintings or sculptures. Chandeliers hung from the ceilings and the crystals dangling from them sparkled. It looked more like some ballroom than a hotel. Normally, it would have cost too much to stay here. They were all lucky that they just happened to be figure skaters and that the rink was not far from here.

"Wow, cool!" Yuri stared at a painting of a white tiger stalking through tall grass. It was located right next to the restaurant. "Can I take this home?"

"Oi, Yuri! Stop loafing around and check yourself in!" Yakov barked.

"I'll do it later!" Yuri went back to ogling the painting. "Annoying old geezer! At least the only one I have to deal with."

"Yuuri! Quick, take a picture of this!" Victor pointed to some hideous looking statue in the corner. "Doesn't it look like Makkachin?"

That hideous box-like statue looked nothing like a poodle. Yuri rolled his eyes when he saw those two taking photos. "Ugh, I forgot. There are these two geezers to deal with. The sooner the competition ends, the better I’m going to feel."

"Don't worry about them." Otabek waved his room key. "After we settle in, let's go out. We have time to visit the place."

“Ah, you always know what I want!” Yuri sighed. Then his eyes fell on one painting in the corner. The hotel did have a lot of artwork around it and the rest of the skaters had noticed it. They were now crowding around the painting as if they were drawn to it. They were entranced by the figure in that painting, dressed in fancy clothes and looking straight at them. The painting’s deep brown eyes seemed to have some sadness in them.

The woman at the front desk saw the group staring at this painting and wasn’t surprised. Everyone was entranced by it. That painting always seemed to get attention from anyone who was in the lobby. Out of everything, it was the eyes that always drew them in. Those eyes were watching everything.

"Ah, I see you found the painting of our most famous resident." She began. "Well, he's not a living resident. He's a legend. I don't like talking too much about this but this hotel was said to be haunted." She lowered her voice. "Many guests here claim that there are ghosts."

"Ghosts? Who's stupid enough to believe there are ghosts?" Yuri asked.

"Well, we've had a few incidents that they can't explain. This hotel wasn't always a hotel, you know. Long ago, there used to be a castle. Legend has it that the prince of the castle fell in love with a servant boy that worked for his family. The servant boy was either a thief or an assassin...there are two versions to this story...who came to kill the king and steal the jewels. Instead, he ended up falling in love with the prince and they kept their love a secret from the world. Since they were of two different classes, they could only see each other in secret. It was a love that was blooming within the castle walls and no one knew of it."

She took a breath before continuing. "One day, the king's enemies attacked the castle and a fight broke out. The prince was forced to be part of the battle. He was so busy fighting that he didn't notice his lover had come out of hiding. Another soldier tried to attack him from behind...and ended up plunging the sword into the servant boy. The servant had run to save his lover but lost his life in the process. He died on the roof in the prince's arms. Distraught, the prince jumped off the roof of the castle and fell to his death. The kingdom mourned for both of them and they were buried in separate places." She paused to look at the painting. "Legend has it that the prince's ghost haunts these bottom floors and his lover haunts the top ones. They will continue to haunt these halls until the day they are finally reunited in the afterlife."

There was a brief silence in the group until Yuri decided to speak. "Has anyone actually seen these ghosts?"

The woman chuckled. It was clear that he was interested even though he was acting like he didn't care. "Well, some of people have admitted to seeing some apparitions. The prince's ghost is sometimes seen outside of the hotel. I've heard people say they've seen his shadow in the gardens. One person claims that they saw him floating in the pool once. I've had guests claimed they can feel someone breathing down their necks or hugging them from behind. A lot of times, this happens in the shower. Then there are the usual things such as knocking things over, opening and slamming doors on their own, and lights flickering on and off. It changes so much."

"Wow!" Phichit breathed out as he stared at the painting. "Yuuri, he looks a lot like you."

"Hmm?" Yuuri looked up at the painting and saw what his friend was talking about. The style of clothing was different but the prince had the same dark hair and warm brown eyes. His facial features were almost identical. "It's probably just coincidence."

"He's right. That does look like you." Chris agreed. "You even have the same nose. Wouldn't it be funny if the lover looked like Victor?"

That earned laughs from everyone including Yuuri. "That would be funny but I doubt it. This is just a legend, after all. I wouldn't think too much about it."

"Well, I think it'll be fun to talk to spirits!" JJ exclaimed. "Oh, I know! Let's try to talk to them! We can try having one of those seances!"

"...That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Yuri muttered. "I didn't think you'd believe in ghosts!"

"It's just some fun, Yuri. I don't think anyone really haunts this place. Lighten up."

Yuri bit back several remarks. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." He looked up at the ceiling. "Ghosts. They're not real. Right, Otabek?"

Otabek could only shrug in reply. Everyone had the same feeling about the ghosts. They were just legends. They didn't really exist. Whatever those people felt were probably in their minds. If it was truly haunted, why would the hotel still be in business after so many years? The place was packed and they probably had the so-called ghosts to thank for it. The legend was the reason anyone came to stay. They just wanted to say they came to a haunted hotel.

As they waited for the elevator to come down, Yuuri felt something tugging at his sleeve. He ignored it at first but felt it again. The tugs were becoming more and more aggressive that he had to pull his arm away. "Victor, stop that!"

"Stop what?" Victor asked.

"You keep tugging on my arm and it's bothering me!"

"I'm not touching you, Yuuri. Do you want me to?"

"No, it's just...I swear you were grabbing my sleeve! If it wasn't you, then who was it?" He looked over at Yuri who just gave him an annoyed look. "That wasn't you?"

"Huh? Why the hell would I grab you, katsudon?!" Yuri snapped. "The only one who can't keep his hands off you is Victor!"

"But I didn't touch Yuuri this time." Victor was confused and looked at the others. "You must have imagined it."

I want to believe that but I know what I felt. Yuuri thought as the elevator finally arrived. The tug was very real and annoying. He looked down at his sleeve and touched the area where it had been pulled. It was cold, which made no sense. The entire room suddenly felt cold. Someone must have turned down the thermostat. Yes, that is it. I really am imagining things. All that ghost talk has me thinking about it. There are no such things as ghosts.

"You know what we should do?" Phichit suggested. "Let's try to record all the ghostly activity in here! This would be awesome, wouldn't it?"

"I guess so." Yuuri said. "What if we don't run into any ghosts?"

"In this place? I think we're going to come across them. Come on, Yuuri. A lot of people claim this place is haunted. They've got their stories. They know what they saw and felt. I bet if we record this, we'll have proof. Think of how cool that would be!"

"I'll leave that to you then." He waved it off. "If you see something, just show me."

His eyes went back to the painting next to them. More and more, he could see why the others said that it looked like him. Those painted brown eyes seemed so regal yet sad deep down. The prince did look like Yuuri in another life. It had to be a coincidence. A lot of men out there had dark hair and eyes like Yuuri did.

_It’s not him._

~ ~ ~

Upstairs, a restless spirit wandered from room to room, looking for someone to play with. These hotel guests were scared easily and he didn’t like it. He wanted someone that he could toy with. Different people came in and went but no one excited him. No one looked like fun. He could do the usual things; show up in their mirrors, toy around with the furniture, and haunt their dreams. He had the ability to scare them while they were asleep. He could make them fear anything.

_These humans are so weak. Filthy, rich humans are too weak to handle anything._

He was lurking around in one of the upper rooms when he heard a familiar voice and the door open. “Oh, there we go! I think we need a better key!”

Turning around, he couldn’t believe who had stepped into the room. He saw his lover walk in and everything completely changed. He no longer felt like haunting this room. Instead, he just wanted to stay here and look at his lover and let him know he was safe. Some things had changed but there he was. He was handsome as usual and looked extremely happy to be in his room. It was wonderful to see him after so many years. They had been apart too long. If only he could just reach out and hold him for a few minutes, he would be fine. 

"Yuuri~!"

That piercing, annoying sound cut into the room and that's when he entered the room. Hair like the color of moonlight, eyes like the morning sky, and a smile that stretched for miles. Already, he hated him. He hated the way he was speaking and laughing. Then to make matters worse, he grabbed his love and spun him around in a circle.

"Victor, Victor...put me down! No, you got your snot on me! Wipe your nose!" 

His love was laughing and happy. No, no, this couldn't be. He wouldn't allow this horrible creature to take his love away. He would have to scare this monster away. He needed to get rid of it. He didn't want to spend another minute listening to this creature laughing and touching his love. That disgusting monster had his hands all over his lover. No, something had to be done about it. He was going to get rid of this demon.

_Enjoy him while it lasts, you silver-haired demon. I’m going to make you regret ever being born. He will be mine and you will disappear forever._

It wouldn’t be long. The demon would die and they two of them would be reunited. This time, they were going to stay together for all eternity.


	2. Chapter 2

Night one in The Onyx Hotel was uneventful yet the guests were on edge. It was the worst when they went down to the lobby. The painting downstairs was making everyone feel uneasy. Anywhere they went, it seemed like the eyes were following them. It was just a painting. It wasn't real. Ghosts weren't real. These were probably stories that were told to keep the guests entertained. Phichit was excited at the idea of seeing a ghost but even he admitted that it might be impossible.

"No one has actually seen them. They've just noticed strange things." He said. "No one's caught a ghost in action. If I can see the apparition, that would be the best thing ever! I would have proof in my hands!"

"It's just a story, Phichit." Yuuri said. "I don't think there's anything haunting this place."

"How about when you felt something tugging your arm and you thought it was Victor?"

"It must have been someone else. Maybe I was just too tired and I was imagining all of it."

"How about how cold it felt downstairs?"

"Again, that's probably someone messing with the thermostat. I don't think it's a ghost playing around with anything."

"Aw, Yuuri, you're no fun sometimes." Phichit sighed. "What if I do catch a ghost on camera? Will you believe me if I told you I saw one?"

"Of course I'll believe you. If you can catch one, I'll take back what I said. Until then, I’m just going to believe that this is a story. They tell you the story to entertain you. That’s all. I’m not bothered by any of it.”

The one thing that did bother them was something one of the guests had told them. As soon as he saw them on the ninth floor, he showed up with a warning. He snuck up on them as they were trying to open the door to their room and the key was giving them trouble.

"Are you staying on this floor?" He asked.

"Yes, this is where our room is. They key doesn’t want to work but other than that, we’re okay." Yuuri explained. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, you should probably move." The man told them. "Everything above the ninth floor is where everyone has been getting sick."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that healthy, young men such as yourselves have suddenly fallen ill on the ninth floor. They all came in being perfectly fine. Within hours, they were bedridden and had fevers. Some of them had to be taken to the doctors. The younger you are, the more likely you are to fall ill. If I were you and I was in this competition, I would take a room somewhere else. Even better, take a room in another hotel. You'll feel better if you do. I'd hate to see you get sick right before your big day."

“Is that so?” Victor asked, smile disappearing. “I did feel strange earlier.”

“It could be some symptoms. Get out of here while you can.”

Despite everything they had been told, it didn't seem like there was anything to fear. Victor was already getting over a cold and the medication was kicking in. A slight fever could be taken care of. According to the man, the ones who got sick first were children and there were no children with them. However, this wasn't the worst that happened.

"The ghost up here is pretty mean-spirited." He explained. "It seems to like some people and I've heard of folks getting hugs in the shower. However, it also has a temper. If it doesn't like you, it will try to scare you off. The servant's ghost is the one who haunts this area. I bet you weren't told that he was beaten badly by others. The king and queen didn't like him and only tolerated him because the prince asked them to polite. They had no idea of their son's affair. People suspect that the reason that this ghost isn't as friendly is because of how he was treated. If he doesn't like you, he won't give you hugs in the shower. Be careful when you turn on the faucet or where you leave your things. He's known to scald people with hot water or make messes."

It sounded so absurd but it did make Yuuri a little nervous. He just hoped that he was one of the few people that this ghost liked. He was careful when he put his things out and whenever he went to the bathroom. He let the water run a little bit to make sure that it was the right temperature. If there truly were spirits up here, he didn't want to anger them.

"I thought you said you didn't believe in these ghosts." Victor said as they were getting settled in. "You told me they're just stories."

"Well, they are but it doesn't hurt to be careful." Yuuri said. "I can't stop thinking about that painting downstairs. Everyone's right. It does look like me."

"He's not a real person, Yuuri. He has the same hair and eyes as you but that's it. Now let's go out. You don't want to spend all night with ghosts, do you?"

"There are no such things as ghosts. It’s someone trying to mess with our heads." He looked over at Victor and saw the smile was gone. “Is everything okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Victor’s smile came back although it was obviously forced. “I will be all right, my Yuuri. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. You are right. There are no such things as ghosts.”

It was so much easier to say than to believe. The more they hung around in their room, the colder it felt. Was the mean-spirited ghost watching them? If so, what was it going to do? Yuuri looked down at his phone and got a message from a strange number that he had never seen.

**Do not worry, my love. I will defeat the evil for you. We will be together soon. :)**

He could not trace this number back to anyone and Victor certainly didn’t send it. It must have been some strange person who meant to text this to someone else.

It turned out that the ghost on the bottom floors was far friendlier. He was the one who gave a lot of hugs and gently touched people. No one ended up sick or hurt. If anything, the rooms downstairs would smell fragrant and lovely like they were filled with flowers. Sometimes the bottom rooms smelled like delicious spices or baked goods. Whoever this ghost was, he had no issues with whoever stayed on his floors. He was friendly to anyone that he came across.

"You should move. This floor is amazing!" Phichit exclaimed. "I already feel welcome."

“Eh, it smells funny in my room but I’ll live with it.” Yuri shrugged. “I don’t mind if the ghost makes me room smell good. Just don’t bother me and I’ll be fine.”

"Are you sure it's a ghost doing all this?"

"It has to be. I asked who filled the room with this smell and that's what the housekeeping people told me. If you want to see a ghost, we should probably try communicating with this one. He might give us answers to who he is and why he's still haunting this place. We can figure out what he wants."

"How would we do that?"

"A seance! You know, Georgi says he knows how to speak to ghosts."

"He does?"

"Yeah, he says he's done it before and he can do it here. I think we should give it a shot. At the very least, it might be fun. If nothing happens, then there is nothing to worry about."

"You really believe Georgi can talk to ghosts, hamster boy?" Yuri scoffed. He couldn't believe that everyone was into this ghost story. “Georgi thinks there is such a thing as true love. He’s not the best choice when it comes to anything.”

“It’s worth a shot though. If nothing else, it’ll be fun.” Phichit suggested. “I’ve never done a séance before and it’s something to waste time on.”

It was no shock that Georgi wanted to speak to these spirits. It was even more appealing that they were lost lovers trying to find each other. As soon as he heard the stories, he wanted to get in touch with the lovers and find a way to reunite them. However, this was going to require a lot of work and participation from everyone else. Half of the group was excited and wanted to see what would happen.

Then there was the other half that didn't want to do this. Yuri belonged in that half. "Why do we have to do this? Leave those stupid ghosts alone."

"I thought you didn't believe in them, Yuri. You said they weren't real." JJ teased.

"I don't! I just think you're all idiots for wasting your time!" He snapped. "Just leave them alone! They're dead! What can you do for them? You can't bring them back to life and reunite them."

"It sounds like you're scared, little Yuri."

It took all the willpower in the world as well as Otabek's hands pressing down on him not to snap. If JJ said one more idiotic thing, Yuri would make sure that he became a ghost as well. In the corner, Phichit was ready to record anything odd. He had his phone out and was looking around for something that was out of place.

"Was it cold in here when we entered?" He wanted to know, looking at the thermostat. "It doesn't look like it's supposed to be this cold. The spirits are here!"

"Phichit..." Yuuri began. Like Yuri, he didn't want to believe there were ghosts running around. He was having a hard time convincing himself that they weren’t real. All these strange events had to have a logical reason yet they didn’t.

"Come on! Let's have fun!" JJ exclaimed. "If anything else, it will be an experience." Then he smiled at Yuri. "Don't worry. I'll protect you if the mean ghosts come after you."

Yuri almost kicked the table over and launched himself onto JJ but Otabek stopped him. He managed to get Yuri to sit down and keep the rage inside. "Leave him alone. It's not worth it. This will be over soon."

"All right, sit down." Georgi instructed everyone. "Together, we will call upon the spirits that are living in this room. We will try to find out their names and what they truly want. Then we will try to reunite the lovers."

"Do we have to?" Yuri asked. "This is so stupid!"

"It will only take a few seconds. Now close your eyes, everyone, as I call upon the spirits. Hold each other's hands."

"If I close my eyes, I won't be able to see the ghosts." Phichit whispered as he grabbed Yuuri's hand. "How can I get proof?"

"Just do it." Yuuri whispered back, grabbing Victor's hand. "As long as you have your phone, I think you'll get something."

"How long will this take? I need a drink." Christophe muttered. “Someone better buy me a coffee after this. It’s too cold in this room. My butt is frozen to the chair!”

"Silence, everyone! I need complete silence!" Georgi ordered. Once the entire room fell silent and everyone had their eyes closed, he began to speak. "Spirits, if you can hear me, send a sign. Make a sound so we know we are not alone."

After a second, there was a rap on the table. Yuuri shuddered when he heard it but he assumed that it was one of the other skaters. Any one of them could have rapped that table just to fool the others. Georgi kept talking.

"Spirit, now that you have made your presence known, tell us more about yourself. Are you still with us? Make a sound so we know."

There was another rap and Yuuri felt Victor squeeze his hand harder. Phichit was also squeezing his hand tight enough to cut off circulation. If this was someone else making noises, they certainly were scaring everyone around them. He opened one eye to see if someone was reaching out and rapping the table. From what he could tell, everyone was holding hands and keeping their eyes closed.

"Dearest spirit, are you the one who haunts the bottom or the top? Knock once if you live on the bottom, twice if you live on the top."

Another sharp rap filled the room and Phichit nearly let go of Yuuri's hand. He managed to grab it again and felt relief that it was the friendly ghost in this room.

"Do you know where your lover is? One knock for yes, two for no."

Two sharp knocks made the table shake. Across the table, they could hear Yuri whispering to Otabek. "This is boring. Let's get out of here."

"SILENCE!" Georgi's voice boomed. "You dare interrupt me, child! I shall teach you respect!"

"Huh?" Yuri finally opened his eyes and noticed that Georgi's voice had changed completely. It wasn't him anymore but someone else speaking. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Do not disrespect me, peasant! How dare you address in such a manner? I shall have you flogged!"

"Peasant?" Now it was Mila's turn to open her eyes. "Hey, is Georgi okay?"

By now, everyone else had realized what had changed. There was no more rapping on the table but Georgi kept talking. "Hear me well! By midnight on the fifth night, there shall be a full moon!"

"Who cares about that?" JJ asked. “Full moons are nothing new.”

"Silence, peon, or I shall have your tongue!" Now it was Yuri's turn to smirk. "Help me reunite with my love and I shall leave you in peace. Fail to do so and I will torment you for the rest of your life! And to that young man standing next to him, STAY AWAY FROM HIM OR I SHALL BRING ABOUT YOUR DOOM! I will have your head, silver-haired demon!"

Everything went quiet at that point and only JJ was able to break the silence. "Well, that was fun!"

"I wonder who Georgi was talking about. What young man? Silver-haired demon?" Sara asked as she turned on the lights. Everyone seemed to be okay from what it looked like. Even Georgi seemed to be in a daze as the lights filled the room. "That could be anyone in here."

“No, there’s only one silver-haired person here.” Chris looked at Victor. “What did you do that has the spirits so angry at you?”

Victor shrugged and laughed. “It’s nothing, Chris. This is just fun.”

"Fun? What the hell was all that?" Yuri wanted to know. "This was the biggest waste of time in my life!"

"Okay, let's see if I got anything!" Phichit held out his phone and looked at the video. It was completely dark so there wasn't much they could see. There was enough grumbling from Yuri and Otabek trying to calm him down. The sound also didn't help them. There was a ton of garbling sounds before they heard Georgi. "Oh no! I was hoping for something more clear!"

"Can we get out of here?" Yuuri asked. He didn't want to think about this anymore. He didn't want to talk about ghosts. "I'd like to go to bed early if that's okay. I’m not really feeling so great."

"I think that's a good idea." Victor agreed, putting his arm around Yuuri's shoulder. "I think my poor Yuuri's scared."

"I'm not scared! I just_"

"Pfft! What's there to be scared of?" Yuri asked. "It's just everyone messing around!"

"Well, that's not what I heard when I saw you grabbing Otabek's shoulder!" JJ teased. “It’s okay though. It was pretty frightening.”

Once again, Otabek had to hold Yuri down from clawing JJ's face off. Everyone else was just tired and ready to get out of the room. The seance was fun but all Yuuri wanted was a warm shower and a warm bed. He decided to excuse himself, steal a kiss from Victor, and go upstairs.

“I’ll see you upstairs, okay? I need to get away from all of this.”

Yuuri took a look at the painting in the lobby one more time and saw something different. The painting was smiling now. It wasn't that tiny Mona Lisa type smile before but a wide one with teeth showing. Was it always there and he never noticed it? He moved closer just to make sure. As chilling as it was, he needed to know he wasn't crazy.

That was when the painting winked at him and its grin widened. He gasped and grabbed his phone in hopes to text someone. Instead, he had a knew message from the strange person who sent him one earlier.

**See you in your dreams! :)**

Yuuri backed away and began to run towards the elevator. He could still feel the painting watching him, the grin never disappearing from its face.


	3. Chapter 3

Despite the strange experience with the painting and the message, nothing happened to them. No one had come after them. Georgi insisted that he had no idea what they were talking about. He couldn't recall ever saying these words. He didn't know what had overcome him but he did admit to feeling a cold presence in the room.

"I wasted an hour of my life on this." Yuri grumbled when they left. "Stupid Georgi and his shitty seance. I could have done something else with my time. Hell, even staying the whole night in my room was better than this!”

"Aw, cheer up! It's all in fun." JJ told him. "If you're still scared of those ghosts, my offer to protect you is still available."

Yuri bit back several biting remarks. If it weren't for Otabek holding him back, he would have turned JJ into the newest ghost as promised. He just fumed silently until they were outside and away from everyone.

"That asshole! I'm not scared of any stupid ghosts!" He snapped. "Who does he think is, huh? I don't need his shitty protection!"

"Leave it alone, Yura. He doesn't mean harm." Otabek told him. The air was cool and it was a good night for a ride. Anything would be better than being in the haunted hotel. Despite what Yuri said, he was on edge right now and he needed to get away from everything. "Is there somewhere you'd like to go or do you want to ride around town?"

"A ride around town! Yeah!" Yuri exclaimed, mood suddenly changing. "I've had enough of everyone else! Let's get out of here!"

"Very well. Wait for me."

Otabek went to get his bike while Yuri stared at the hotel. It couldn't be haunted. That was just a stupid story that the staff came up with. Georgi was pretending he didn't know what he was talking about. As he walked around and waited for Otabek, it felt like someone was watching him. Someone was nearby. Trying to forget about it, he looked at the hotel and noticed something.

There was someone staring down at him from the roof. He couldn't see who it was but they were focused on him. It wasn't one the Yuri's Angels because they would never do this. If they wanted to get close to him, they would stare at him from the ground. They would be screaming his name and trying to get his attention. This person was standing there and looking down. It wasn't a typical guest hanging out on the top and enjoying the view. No, they were looking at him. They wanted to stare at him. They wanted to creep him out and it was working.

_What the fuck?_

"Hey, asshole!" He yelled at the person on the roof. "What the hell are you looking at?!"

The person on the roof didn't reply. Instead, they looked down at him and it was making him uneasy. All they did was stay still. There was no movement of limbs or their heads. This person, whoever it was, just stood there and stared at him.

_That's it! I'm going to kick his ass!_

Just as he stared to head back, Otabek came around the corner and parked the bike. "Where are you going, Yura?"

"This asshole is bothering me!" Yuri snapped, pointing to the roof. "He keeps staring."

Otabek looked up. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Come on! There's some creepy guy looking down at me from the roof."

"There's no one there, Yura. Look." Otabek pointed to the roof and Yuri saw that the person had disappeared. The roof was empty. "Are you sure someone was looking at you?"

"There was someone there! I don't know who they were or what they wanted but they were being creepy and looking at me!" Yuri insisted, looking back at that roof. "I don't know where they went but I'm going to find out. You believe me, don't you?"

"Of course I do. Maybe they just left." Otabek said, handing Yuri a helmet. "Now come with me. Forget about that person. They're gone now. If they do give you trouble, we'll take care of them. You don't have to worry."

"Pfft, I'm not worried." Yuri got on the back of the bike. "Just get me out of this place."

As the drove off, he took one more glance at the roof. No one was there anymore.

~ ~ ~

After his experience with the painting, Yuuri went upstairs a nice, warm shower. He was done with talking ghosts for the next few hours. If the weird warning wasn't bad enough, he now had to deal with Phichit trying to catch the ghosts in person. The video that he had taken didn't given much. The room was too dark and the audio was now garbled. Someone was talking but they couldn't figure out what was being said.

"This isn't going to work." Phichit sighed, replaying the video for the fifteenth time. "I need something more solid to prove there are ghosts. I know what I heard and I want to find out who they were talking about. Who was the young man? It could be any of us. I’m pretty sure the silver-haired demon is probably Victor. I’m not sure why they called him a demon though. Has he done anything illegal lately? Is he the leader of the mafia? Did he kill someone?"

“Phichit!”

“I’m just saying. Maybe he did something that angered the spirits. What do you think he said or did that could pissed someone off?”

"I don't know but I don't really want to think about it anymore." Yuuri looked back at the painting behind them. It was staring at him and he just wanted to get away from it. "I'm going to my room. I've had enough. I need this shower to clear my mind."

"Okay. I'll keeping looking for clues and paranormal activity. I'm telling you, Yuuri. This is going fun!"

"Right." Yuuri smiled and went to the elevators. Normally, he would be happy to indulge all this but he was tired. All he wanted was that shower and to curl up in bed. He wanted to forget what he had heard and seen today.

So far, there had been no major issues on either floor. Some of the rooms were too cold but that was only because the thermostat was down. No one had run into either the benevolent or malevolent spirit. More and more, it just sounded like a story that had been made up so tourists could enjoy it.

If that's the case, why does that painting downstairs make me feel so strange? Yuuri thought. Every time he came down to the lobby, he could feel the painting's eyes on him. His eyes. Everyone was right. The person in that painting looked too much like him. It was almost like looking into a mirror. He wasn't the only one who felt strange around it.

"Ugh, that thing keeps looking at me." He could hear Yuri grumbled whenever he walked past it. "I wish someone would cover up that stupid pig face. It's creepy."

"It's just a painting." Otabek would tell him. "Don't let it bother you. The stories they tell are just stories, no truth behind them."

"I know there's no such thing as ghosts. It's just that the painting is ugly. Who wants to look at this fancy version of Katsudon when they walk in?"

Yuuri overheard that but he ignored it. While Yuri might have been harsh, he was right about one thing. The painting was creepy and he wanted someone to take it down. He wanted to cover it up so he didn't feel those eyes on it. He didn’t want to see him wink at it anymore. Now he turned on the water and stepped inside the shower. Immediately, he felt better as he closed the shower curtain and let the water drizzle down on him. The warmth of that water was perfect.

_It’s not the hot springs but this works. This was just what I needed._

There was just something calming about the water. It had nothing to do with what was pouring out of the shower. Instead, it felt like someone was wrapping their arms around him. He was being pulled into a tight hug and he could feel someone breathing down his neck. They were running their hands up and down his body. Then that person started to caress his thighs and run their fingers along his hip bone. Their touch was very light against his skin. Yuuri couldn't help but smile when he felt that.

"Mmm, Victor, you should have told me you were getting in here." He murmured, reaching around to touch Victor. To his shock, there was nothing there. "Victor?"

He turned around to find no one. The water was still running but no one was behind. No one stepped out of the shower either. "Victor?"

Turning off the shower, he pushed the door open to see if Victor might have stepped out. There were no wet footprints or any sign that Victor had been there. The towels had not been used so whoever it was didn't dry themselves off. The mirror had fogged over but no one had left a message or had cleaned anything up. He was alone.

 _That's odd. I know I felt you in here? How did you get out so soon?_ He thought as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel. All the towels were dry and in their proper places. _I know I didn't imagine that. Someone was touching me in here but who? How did they get in and out without me knowing? I didn’t hear the door open._

Once he had dried off and had wrapped the towel around himself, he peered into the bedroom. "Victor? Are you in there?"

Again, there was no reply. There was also no one else in the room but him. The door was still locked so no one could have gotten in without the key. He didn't hear anyone enter the bathroom either. More and more, he was getting confused.

_Victor's not here. No one is here. Still, someone was touching me in the shower. I could feel them but their touch was very light. They were feeling me up. I’m not crazy._

He had no time to think about this. Outside, he could hear some noises. Getting dressed, he stepped out to see what it was. The commotion was coming from down the hall. Everyone else had gathered outside of JJ's room and he knew that there was trouble. Finding Phichit, he had to find out what happened. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Yuuri! You're not going to believe this but JJ got burned by the water in his bathroom sink!" Phichit exclaimed. "Fortunately, he will be fine and I don't think it will affect his skating but it was weird."

"What do you mean?"

Phichit quickly explained what had happened. JJ had gone to wash his hands and claimed to have turned on the cold water. He had let it run for a few seconds before adding soap and trying to rinse it off. Within seconds, the cold water became scalding hot water and he pulled away. The burns were not severe in any means and they would heal soon. However, it was odd that cold water suddenly turned hot. The hotel maintenance team had come up to check it and found nothing wrong with it.

"Is he sure he turned on the cold water?" Yuuri asked.

"He says he's positive of it. He thinks one of his enemies might have had something to do with it."

Phichit looked over at Yuri who turned around to find several eyes on him. "Huh? It wasn't me! I may not like the guy but I'm not going to hurt him like that!" He huffed and leaned against the wall. "JJ's probably stupid enough to turn on the hot water instead of cold. I know you don't believe me but I had nothing to do with this."

"I believe you actually. I don't think you did it either. No matter how you feel, you wouldn’t hurt anyone like that." Yuuri said. "Maybe he accidentally did turn the wrong faucet on."

That seemed like the logical explanation because no one would want to harm JJ like that. Yuri wasn't that cruel that he would try to burn anyone on purpose. At most, he might have kicked them but that was as far as he went. No matter how obnoxious JJ could be, none of them would have tried to hurt him physically.

"No worries, ladies! Nothing takes JJ down that easily!" JJ promised his faces, attempting to do 'JJ style' with his fingers. It hurt but he managed to pull it off. "No one can stop the king! It's JJ style!"

Yuri glowered at him. "Seriously? I guess some things can't change."

"I'm just glad he's all right." Yuuri said. "No matter how anyone feels about him, he doesn't deserve to get hurt."

"No, they don't." Phichit agreed. "That is strange though. It made me think about what someone downstairs was saying earlier. They mentioned that sometimes the hot water ends up cold or vice versa. It doesn't matter if you use the right faucet. It can change on you any second. At least JJ was lucky that this happened in the sink and he was able to pull away fast enough."

"He was." Yuuri tried to change the subject. "Have you seen Victor by any chance?"

Phichit shook his head. "I thought he was with you."

"Were you looking for me?" A familiar voice spoke up.

Yuuri began to feel some relief when he saw Victor show up with Chris. "There you are! Where did you go? I didn’t even hear you when you left!"

"What are you talking about? Chris and I went out for a little bit."

"No, you were in the bathroom with me." Yuuri reminded him. "You were right there and then you left all of a sudden. I went looking around for you but you weren't there. I know you were there because I could feel you behind me! I could feel you caressing my thighs and my back and…"

"Ugh, really? Keep those things to yourself, Katsudon!" Yuri grumbled. “No one wants to know about the kinky shit you two do in the bathroom!”

“The point is that Victor was in the bathroom in me. I felt him in the shower with me.”

"That's impossible. He was with me the entire time." Chris pointed out. "I asked Victor to help me find my underwear."

"You...you asked him to find him what?" Phichit asked.

"I can't find any of it. Someone took out of my room and I don't know why. I was looking everywhere for it."

"I'm amazed you own underwear in the first place. Anyway, why would anyone take that?"

"How should I know? I'm going to tell people at the front desk about this. If their staff stole it_"

Yuuri turned to Victor who was confused about the whole thing. "So you really were with Chris the whole time? Then who was in the shower with me?"

"I don't know. Maybe you were just imagining me being there. I haven't taken a shower yet." He turned his head for a second and that was when Yuuri saw it. Bright pink scratch marks were on Victor's neck. Under this bright light, they were visible and looked like they were put there recently.

"What happened to you?" He tried to get a better look at them but Victor wouldn't let him. "Please, Victor! I need to know what those are!"

"It's nothing, Yuuri. It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Huh? What the hell are those scratches?!" Now Yuri had seen them and he knew this wasn't normal. "Who did that to you?"

"No one did anything to me, Yurio. It's just a scratch." Victor laughed. "I fell down and that's how I got them."

"Bullshit! I know you well enough to know you don't fall down that easily!" Yuri glowered at him. "Tell me who did it. Who is hurting you?"

"And I told you no one did anything to me. I'm fine. These scratches will go away soon." He assured him. “Everything is fine. Everything will be fine. My injuries will heal. You have nothing to worry about. I'm getting over a cold but that's all. I'll be back to normal soon.”

Yuuri nodded but he had a hard time believing any of this. Victor was hiding something from him. He could see it in those eyes. He was not telling him something either because he didn’t want to or he was afraid. He couldn’t figure out what it was or where he could get those scratches from.

He looked down at his phone to find that a new message had been sent. The same old number was sending him something new.

**I hope the demon continues to feel pain with every scratch I leave on his body. :)**

Disgusted, he put the phone away. Whoever was doing this was not funny. He was going to get to the bottom of all of this sooner or later.


	4. Chapter 4

Things were getting too intense in the hotel even though JJ was trying to calm people down. He assured them that he would be fine and ready to skate when the competition started. No burn was going to keep the king of the ice. For Yuuri, he was worried about something else. He didn't see the scratches before so they were put there recently. He just wanted to who did it and Victor wasn't saying a thing. All he did was say that it was nothing.

"I don't believe you." Yuri glowered at him. He wasn't stupid enough to believe this came from a fall. "You should tell someone about it."

This was going on for the next few minutes. Yuri would point out what was wrong and Victor would assure him he'd be fine. No matter how much Victor wanted to deny it, Yuri refused to accept this. He wanted to know who had done this. Victor just laughed this off.

"Aw, Yurio, I didn't know you cared that much about me."

"I don't care that much, old man! But if someone is hurting you..."

"It is nothing. Those scratches will heal in time. It won't affect anything I do."

Yuri was right. Those scratch marks did not come from falling down or running into anything. Those weren't even scratch marks that belonged to a cat. Human nails had done but who could hurt Victor that way? Why didn't he want to talk about it?

"I didn't do it." Yuuri assured everyone. "I couldn't..."

"No shit you couldn't, Katsudon! I know you! You're not cruel or stupid enough to do that!" Yuri snapped. "I wonder if it's that same creepy guy from last time..."

"Same creepy guy?" Chris cut in. "You saw someone too?"

"Yeah, some weirdo was staring at me from the room earlier. They didn't say anything to me or even more. They were just looking at me. I wanted to know what the hell they wanted but they didn't answer me. What's weird was that when Otabek came, they disappeared. I thought they just walked away but when I turned around, I saw them again."

"Huh, very interesting. I thought I was the only one who was being watched." Chris murmured.

"I thought you'd like that attention, creepy butt man."

Chris ignored the insult and explained what he had seen. Hours earlier, he had left his room to go to the pool and had taken his towel with him. The whole time he was walking, he felt that someone had been following him around. He assumed it must have been another hotel guest as it was packed and other people were around. However, the feeling didn't leave him when he got to the pool. He was alone yet he swore that there was another person's shadow next to him. When he looked around the area, it was empty.

"I don't know who it was but I know what I saw." He concluded. "Shortly after that, my underwear went missing and now I have no idea who would take that."

"Fascinating!" Phichit exclaimed. "More paranormal activity!"

"Oh, please! This is probably some asshole who wants to screw with us!" Yuri rolled his eyes. ""Someone is trying to scare us!"

"Well, there was one more thing. When I took my towel to the pool, it was folded up and dry." Chris added. "When I got out of the pool, my towel was not only wet, it was crumpled up like someone else had used it. Still, no one else was in the pool but me so I don't know who did this. I told the hotel management about this and they didn't see anyone else follow me."

"Oh wow!" Phichit made mental notes of this. "I know you don't want to believe me but I do think you had a run-in with a ghost! The shadows, the wet towel, the strange person on the roof...I don't think this being done by a random person."

"Well, I don't believe it." Otabek said. "It would be very easy for anyone to do this. Anyone could have switched towels out and left a wet one behind. Anyone could be on that roof. Anyone could have cast those shadows. That doesn't make them ghosts."

That all makes sense but what about the painting winking at me? Yuuri wanted to ask. He knew he did not imagine that one. No matter how poor his eyesight might have been, that painting gave him a wink and he could have sworn it was grinning at him. It was like looking in the mirror at a more confident version of himself. He could still see it wink at him as if it say 'See you in your dreams, Yuuri!'

"Okay but what about Victor's scratches?" Phichit asked. "Yuuri would never hurt him on purpose. None of us would do that."

"Can a ghost hurt someone though?" Yuuri asked. "I can believe if they were just moving things around but attacking people sounds like too much."

"Remember, there are two ghosts. There's the friendly one that loves giving hugs and making things smell like flowers. Then there's the nasty one and I think Victor ran into him. I bet he didn't even realize what hurt him, which is probably why he thinks he fell or was hit from behind."

"I think you better keep an eye on him, Katsudon. If someone is after him, you've got to protect him." Yuri said. "And if anything happens to him, I will kick your ass! You got that?"

Yuuri didn't need to be told this. He didn't like the idea that someone had hurt Victor and that Victor was brushing it off. Everyone did care about him. No matter how they might have felt about his personality, they admired him. They would never do anything to sabotage his career. Even Yuri, with his kicks and insults, would never go that far. Despite all his complaints regarding Victor, everyone knew the younger boy did care about Victor. He didn't like seeing him hurt and not knowing what to do about it.

I have to figure out who did this before they hurt him again. I don't know how I'll be able to fight them but I have to. Yurio is right. I will never forgive myself if Victor ends up with more than just scratches.

"Don't take it to heart, Yuri. He's scared." Phichit said when they were alone. "I don't blame him. If that ghost is capable of hurting Victor and JJ, who knows what else it can do."

Yuuri bit his lip. "Phichit, do you really believe that there are ghosts doing this? I've never heard of ghosts hurting people. That was all in movies and books."

"See, that's what I believed too. Then I had to do some research about this place. It turns out that Victor and JJ aren't the only ones who've been hurt like this. I saw accounts of people getting burned even though they turned on the cold water. Fortunately, no one was severely injured but they still had to be treated for burns. Some people would wake up with bruises and scratches even though they hadn't hit anything in their sleep. They got those checked out and it looked like fingernails had scratched them. The bruises looked like people had hit them. That's why people are puzzled."

"How am I supposed to protect Victor if this happens again?"

"All you can do is what you do now. Be supportive. Keep your eyes opened for anything strange. Tell him that you're there for him. If needed, check the water temperature before he takes showers and watch him if he tosses around in his sleep. It might feel like too much but it's for the best. That's what all these other people did. They kept their eyes on their loved ones."

It wasn't the answer Yuuri wanted but it was something he could. "All right, I'll watch him. If needed, I'll follow him wherever he goes."

"Well, don't do that. I'm not saying that you should be a stalker, Yuuri. Just keep your distance and be as loving as always. Maybe he'll tell you where he really got those scratches from."

As they were turning the corner, they heard Chris calling after them. "Hey, you two! I'm glad you're still here because I need your help!"

"You still haven't found your underwear?" Phichit asked.

"No, I found it, all right. It's...well, you have to see it to believe it. I told them not remove anything yet." He motioned them to follow him to the pool. "I came down here one more time because I thought I left something. That's when I saw all this."

Once they were at the pool, they knew what Chris meant. Floating around in the pool was skimpy underwear. There had to be at least a dozen and they all belonged to Chris. Only he would think to wear some of the choice pieces. Now here they were bobbing around in the water. They had been found but not where anyone expected.

"Great. Now I'm out of underwear until these dry." Chris sighed. "Who the hell did this?"

"Oh, this is getting more interesting!" Phichit began taking some pictures of the scene. "Maybe the cameras caught something."

"There are no cameras out here so they have no idea who did this. I don't know who'd break into my room just to take my underwear and throw it in the pool. I was out with Victor the entire time. My room was locked and no one had touched anything.

"I'll find out who it did this. Now help me retrieve everything."

This wasn't how Yuuri or Phichit wanted to spend their night but they had to help him. Fortunately, most of the underwear was floating around the sides so they didn't even need to get in the pool. Everything was soaked but the hotel did have a washing room. Chris would have to use that unless he wanted to go commando later on. He wouldn't mind that, of course, but it was good to have dry clothes anyway.

Hanging above them was the moon, nearly full. If all of this was true, then they needed to reunite these ghosts somehow. They needed to get them together by the full moon at midnight. If that didn't happen, something terrible was going to happen.

Clouds floated across the moon and obscured from view. The sky was dark tonight without a single star in the sky. Still, this was not the thing that scared them. The empty pool and annoyance of pulling everything out wasn't the problem. It was the feeling that they were being watched.

And if any of them had turned around that moment, they would have noticed the shadowed figure keeping its eyes on them.

~ ~ ~

Phichit was hard at work trying to find some more answers behind the hotel. He checked every social media network he could find and came across multiple stories about strange happenings. Everything that was happening in the sixth floor and above seemed to be done by some malevolent spirit. It loved to mess around with people. However, the worst that it would do was throw things around on the ground or tilt the pictures on the walls. One person had seen something bubbling inside of their sink but when the water hadn't been turned on.

The biggest thing that everyone was concerned about were the voices. They heard whispers all around them. Not only that, a few of them would get a text message from an unknown person. There was no number attached to it, just multiple zeroes lined on top. The messages were always very cryptic and never made much sense. However, they always ended with a smiley. Whoever was doing this knew what they were up to. They wanted to scare people.

"I wish I would get something from the ghost." Phichit stared at his phone.

"Why the hell do you want that?" Yuri asked. "Seriously, you got your little video from last time! Why do you want creepy messages too?"

"So I can trace them! I want to know how they got my number and why they are sending me things. Listen to some of the messages people got." Phichit went on social media and read up on some of the comments. "All right, here is one...my phone went off in the middle of the night and someone left me a message that said 'I hope you're all right with being alone tonight' followed by a smiley face. I don't know who sent it."

"Creepy."

"Creepy indeed. People have a lot of different experiences with the ghosts. I don't think anyone got scratched the way Victor was though."

"Yeah, that's a little too weird." Yuuri agreed, flipping through one of the books about the hotel. "I'll be glad when the competition actually starts. As strange as it sounds, I'm not so nervous about that right now. I'm worried about the days before. What if something happens right before competition and we can't compete?”

“I hope nothing like that happens but we should be careful. Keep your eye on everyone.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Yuri muttered. He was feeling tired from the previous night and couldn’t keep up with the conversation. He closed his eyes for a bit and tried to forget about what those two were discussing. Slowly, he found himself drifting into dreamland. He was too tired to deal with anything at the moment.

_He found himself in a room trapped with everyone else. There were no windows, no doors, and no other way of escape. Yet this room was crowded and staring at one thing in the middle. Victor was trapped inside of a box, tied up and pleading to them to let him out._

_“Help me…” Victor mouthed to them._

_“What the fuck?! Why aren’t you letting him out?!” Yuri demanded, running over to the box. Victor was pounding on it to get out. “Hang on, Victor! I’ll let you out!”_

_He had no chance of doing that. As soon as he got close, fire shot up from the floor and blocked him from getting to Victor. “What the hell?!” He went in another direction and more fire shot up. “Hey! What’s going on?!”_

_It hit him now that the others weren’t just standing and watching. They were crying and begging to someone to let Victor out. No matter where anyone went, flames shot up in front of them and blocked them from getting to Victor. Soon, there were flames circling the glass box and keeping everyone from getting to him. Even Yuuri, who wanted to get to his lover, couldn’t do so. Suddenly, a voice spoke loudly into the room._

_“BURN HIM!”_

_Before they had a chance to react, the inside of the box caught on fire with Victor inside. Victor began to screaming and Yuuri started sobbing loudly, collapsing to the floor as Phichit held him. As for Yuri, he tried to run to the box but the fire got bigger and Victor started burning alive. The room began to fill up with smell of burning flesh and hair. Victor’s screams got louder as the flames covered him._

_“No! No, let him out! What the fuck?! Let him out of there!”_

_“Yura...Yura…”_

Yuri gasped as he woke up to Otabek gently nudging his shoulder and saying his name. “Yura...Yura, wake up…”

“Huh?” Yuri opened his eyes to find himself on the sixth floor. “What the fuck was I dreaming about?! How did I get here?”

“I was going to ask you that. Everyone said you were sleepwalking so I was trying to wake you up.” Otabek explained.

“Sleepwalking? How?” Yuri blinked and looked down the hallway. There were a couple of Yuri’s Angels who had followed him up here, cameras and phones locked on him. “I was really sleepwalking?”

“You were. All of them have proof.” Otabek pointed to the angels. “There were a lot of people who saw you. You apparently left the lobby and came up here. I had to stop you before you hurt yourself.”

“Damn. I thought I was just having a bad dream.” Yuri murmured. “I saw Victor being burned alive and I couldn’t do anything about it. We were all there and fire was everywhere. I felt helpless. I don’t know why I dreamed about that.”

“Well, Victor is fine. Everyone is fine. I was scared that you were going to hurt yourself while you were asleep.” Otabek sighed. “Let’s get out of here. Forget about that dream you had. It was just a dream.”

“It felt real.”

“It’s not real. No one is burning alive. Come on. We’ll go somewhere else.”

Yuri nodded but he couldn’t shake the feeling out. He could see Victor’s face. For the first time, he looked so helpless and scared. Everyone was helpless and scared. Who would trap Victor in a box and burn him alive? Why would he have such a dream?

It was just a dream.

Yet in the air, the smell of burning flesh lingered in the air. 

~ ~ ~

The rest of the night was supposed to go by quietly yet this time Yuuri was woken up to screams. At first, he thought he was still in his dream. Then he woke up to hear Victor pleading with someone in his sleep. "Please...let me go...don't hurt me..."

At this point, Yuuri was fully awake and trying to wake Victor up. Instead of answering to the nudges, Victor let out a scream again. "Victor! Hey, Victor! It's okay! It's me! You're fine! You're safe. I'm...I'm here."

Victor woke up and looked at Yuuri. "Yuuri...my Yuuri..."

"It's okay. Everything's okay." Yuuri sounded like he was comforting Victor but he was actually comforting himself. He had no idea what had happened in that nightmare but he had never heard Victor scream like that. He turned on the lights so they could see each other. "Whatever you were dreaming of, it's over."

"Oh, Yuuri!" Victor sighed as he sat up. He was completely shaken and it seemed like he had been crying in his sleep. Whatever he was dreaming of, it hurt him. "I'm so happy to see you! Did I wake you?"

"Don't worry about that. Are you all right? Do you need some medicine?" Victor's cold was almost gone but he didn't look so well.

"I'm fine now. You don't need to get me anything. It was just a bad dream."

"Care to tell me about it?"

Victor shook his head but he changed his mind. "Oh, it was nothing. I was walking through a dark road and then I heard someone behind me. Then I started to run and I heard someone coming after me. I saw some yellow...no, red eyes! There were red eyes staring at me so I ran faster. Then I fell down and someone kicked me. They kept telling me I wasn't worthy of you. They told me to leave you and never come back again or I would die next time. Then they kept hitting me and pulling my hair. I was begging them to stop and then...I woke up next to you."

"Who was telling you that?"

"I don't know. I've never had a dream like that before." Victor tried to smile again but he was still scared. "I don't want you to worry. I'm sure that's the last time I dream of that."

"I really hope so. I think..." That was when Yuuri saw it. He wasn't sure what it was so he found his glasses and put them on. Victor had a bruise on his collarbone. "What happened to you?"

Victor followed his gaze. "Oh, this is nothing! I probably fell and got this."

"That's what you said about the scratch. Victor, turned around so I can see your back."

"Yuuri..."

"I'm serious. I need to know."

Victor turned around and Yuuri's worst fears were confirmed. There were more bruises on his back and all of them were the same size. This could not have come from a fall. Yes, Victor did make the occasional mistake on the ice now and then. He did have his falls but these bruises were different. There was also another scratch mark on his right shoulder blade.

"Who did this to you?" Yuuri finally asked, worry now replaced with anger. He normally didn't get enraged that easily but someone was hurting Victor. "Don't tell me that you're fine because I know you're not! Yurio is right! You don't get bruises like this from falls! If someone is hurting you, I have to know!” 

"Please, Yuuri! There is nothing wrong with me!" Victor snapped. Then he calmed down. "I'm sorry. I swear that no one is hurting me. The only place I'm getting hurt is in my dreams."

"Dreams? So you've had more than one dream like this?"

"It's nothing."

"Don't say that. You said that someone keeps following you in that dream, right? Do you know what they sound like when they talk to you? Is it a man or a woman? Did they tell you why they think you're unworthy? You mentioned something about red eyes so what are those?"

"So many questions. I wish I knew why I was being hit but I don't. I will be fine though. Bruises will heal. Makkachin sometimes scratched me by accident."

"I understand but..." Yuuri gingerly touched the newest scratch marks. These did not come from any animal. Makkachin certainly wouldn't hurt her master this way and she wasn't even here to begin with. These weren’t scratches from a dog's nails but a human. He checked his own nails to see if they could be sharp enough to make deep scratches. They were short and wouldn't even leave a mark. "I need to find out who did this."

"Yuuri, don't! I'm going to be fine." He insisted. "If anyone asks about them, I'll just say I fell down. Even someone like me can be clumsy and fall down."

"But you aren't clumsy. I have seen injuries from falls. I’ve had them myself and they don’t look like these. Someone is hurting you." Yuuri could see that he was getting nowhere. Victor didn't want to admit he was being hurt. He was convinced all this happened in a dream. He was afraid of something but didn't want to talk about it. "Do you want me to get anything? Water? Anything to eat?"

"No, I'm going to try and go back to sleep. I'm so sorry I scared you. I never meant to_"

"I know. It's been a strange night. I don't think there are ghosts that can hurt people though. Are you sure you'll be fine? I'll stay up until you fall asleep."

"My poor Yuuri." Victor lay back down. "You should get sleep too. I expect you at the rink at seven in the morning."

Yuuri didn't want to think about skating right now. Would Victor be well enough to coach him? Granted, bruises and scratches wouldn't affect him physically but would he be fine emotionally? Perhaps he needed to tell someone else about this. The problem was who he could talk to. Yakov would probably get upset over it. No matter how much Victor annoyed him, he cared a great deal about him. Yuri would also be worried and angry. He had seen those scratches as well and he knew they weren't from any fall.

The only people Yuuri could think of to talk to were Phichit and Chris. The former would be able to calm him down and the latter would probably be able to get through to Victor. He made a plan to meet up with them after practice. If anyone could help, they could. Victor was acting like it was no big deal but Yuuri wanted to panic. He wanted to sleep with one eye open in case anyone came in.

Then he remembered what Victor had said about the red eyes. In the beginning, he said they had yellow eyes. Were these the same yellow eyes that Yuuri had seen on the painting? It couldn't be. The painting had brown eyes. The more Yuuri looked at it, the more it frightened him. What was going on in this hotel? The story was supposed to be for fun. No one was supposed to get hurt. 

_What are you not telling me, Victor?_

~ ~ ~

Despite not wanting Yakov to know about what was going on, he knew and was just as worried as everyone else. He insisted on seeing those bruises and, after much reluctance and failure to reassure anyone, Victor finally showed them. Everyone was horrified by the bruising and Yuuri could feel all eyes on him.

"It's nothing." Victor said for what felt like the hundredth time. "You know me, Yakov. I can fall down."

"These are not bruises from falls, Vitya. I know what those bruises look like." Yakov pointed out. "You have to tell me what's going on. If someone is bothering you, you can't hide it. We can take care of them."

"There's nothing to take care of. I will be fine enough to coach Yuuri."

"I'm not worried about the competition. It's you and these injuries that concern me. Look, if you need to sit back_"

"I won't. These bruises will heal."

That was all Victor kept telling everyone. His bruises would heal and this was nothing. He didn't talk about the nightmare to anyone else but Yuuri decided it high time someone else knew. Behind Victor’s back, he told Yakov. He hated to do this but it needed to be done. 

As it turned out, Yakov already knew of this. Someone else had come to him earlier and revealed the whole thing. He was only waiting for Yuuri to confirm it all. 

"I swear I had nothing to do with this." He told Yakov. "I couldn't..."

"I know." Yakov cut him off. "You would never do anything to hurt him but someone else did. Do you know where he went last night?"

"All I know is that he went out with Chris. That was right around the time JJ was burned. I don't think Chris has anything to do with this either though." Yuuri purposely left out the part where they were searching for Chris' underwear. Right now, everything just felt strange. He was lucky to be out of the hotel because now he felt safe. There was some comfort in the cold rink. If he got out there, he could forget about what happened.

"I agree that no other skater would do such a thing. No matter how they feel about Victor, they would never physically hurt him." Yakov knew that he too couldn't get an answer from his student. "Anyway, I will keep my eye on him. You should do the same. If you see anything strange, tell me right away."

"Of course."

Practice went by like normal. Everyone seemed to be in better spirits and JJ had returned. He was back to his normal, charming self. The burns on his hands would heal in no time. He could still do 'JJ style' with his fingers and was laughing out there on the ice. Aside from some small flubs in his jumps, he looked ready for the competition. 

"Why couldn't his mouth get burned off instead?" Yuri grumbled as he heard JJ laughing in the corner. "If I have to listen another 'JJ style', I'm going_"

"Yuri, stop being lazy and concentrate!" Yakov yelled. "Stop worrying about everyone else and focus on your own program!"

"Ugh, annoying old geezer!" He shook his head. The dream that he had and the smell of burning flesh hadn’t left him. “Fuck, I’m tired of all this!” 

There was nothing different about Victor's behavior on the ice. He still had his critiques and praises whenever Yuuri attempted a move. He was smiling and laughing like nothing had gone wrong the night before. He was normal. Yet Yuuri knew what lay underneath. He knew of all the bruises and injuries that he claimed came from a fall. These were not skating injuries. They came from somewhere else.

"I see he's still annoying as ever." Yuri muttered as they took a break. They had been practicing for about two hours and now needed to relax. "I thought Yakov could get him to say something but it didn't work."

"You're the one who told Yakov then?"

"I had to tell him." Yuri said. "Victor left me no choice. I know now that it's not the only thing that happened when he fell."

"You did the right thing. Victor keeps denying that anything happened but I know someone hurt him. The thing is...I think he's telling the truth. It's not a person that's hurting him." Yuuri thought out loud.

"Then what else can it be?"

"Well, this might sound strange but Victor was telling me about a nightmare he had last night. He was being chased by someone who kept hitting him and telling him he wasn't worthy. I thought it was just a dream until I saw all the other bruises. I asked him where he got them and it kept saying they were from a fall. He refuses to talk about it."

"So you think this dream has something to do with those injuries?" Yuri asked. "Come on, Katsudon! I expect this type of stupid theory from anyone else! You can't believe in ghosts too! I thought you were smarter!"

"I don't want to believe there are ghosts but if one of them is hurting Victor, I need to find out why. How can I stop it from happening? What do I do?"

"Look, Katsudon, I don't know much about this stuff. If you need help, you have to ask Georgi. He's the one who was holding that stupid seance earlier. He said that we had to reunite the lovers by midnight or else. I don't know the hell we're going to do that or why we have to do it. All I know is that if you want answers, Georgi most likely has them."

"Then I guess I'll ask him about it." Yuuri looked over at Victor who was practicing on his own. "I don't see any changes in his personality. If I didn't see those bruises last night, I wouldn't think something was wrong."

"Nope, this is normal." Yuri agreed. "Victor doesn't like to dwell on the bad things for long though. He's not just telling you that this nothing. He's trying to convince himself of it."

"I guess..." Then Yuuri remembered the whole incident with the yellow eyes in the painting. "Yurio, did you notice anything strange about the painting in the lobby?"

"Other than the fact that it's the creepy version of you? Not really. I had that weird dream earlier but that’s just a dream. I’d rather forget about it." Yuri took a sip of water. "I did notice some weirdo staring at me from the roof though. They weren't doing anything. They said nothing. They just stared. Otabek never saw them but they came back again and...it looked like they had red eyes."

"Red eyes?" Now things were starting to get a little creepier. "Did the red eyes do anything to you?"

"No. I told you, it was just being creepy and looking at me. When we returned, they were gone."

Red eyes. Yellow eyes. Whatever this was, it was not normal. "You don't think it was a cat, do you?"

"Please! I know what a cat looks like and it doesn't look like that! These were more like demon eyes. Normally, I would find that cool but not when it's staring at me."

It looks like I have no choice but to talk to someone else about this then. I need to know who else has seen the red and yellow eyes. Maybe Victor's dream is more than that.

"Thanks for telling me about that. I'll watch after Victor and see if he has any more 'falls' or if he gets hurt again."

"You better keep an eye on him." Yuri warned. "I mean it, Katsudon. I don't want to see any more bruises or scratches."

"Neither do I."

While the ice was comforting, they couldn't stay on it forever. At the same time, almost no one wanted to go back to their hotel room. Phichit grabbed Yuuri just as he was leaving and tried to pull him in the other direction. "I don't know about you but I'm hungry! We've been here for two days and we really haven't spent time with each other."

"I thought you were trying to hunt ghosts?"

"I am but I haven't gotten anything good yet." Phichit looked glumly at his phone. "The old video isn't showing much. The sound is still off. I did notice one thing in the corner but I'm not sure if that counts as anything. I was going to show it to you sooner. I just didn't have time. I've been noticing some strange things in my room though nothing that frightening. Usually, my room ends up smelling really nice or I get a warm feeling in the shower. It's as though someone is touching me." He held out the phone. "Anyway, I have been doing some research and I asked someone else to help us. Hopefully, he's still awake on the other side of the world."

"Other side of the world? Did you_"

"Yeah, he agreed to help. All right, let me see if he's around and what he has for us. Besides, I haven't spoken to him in a long time and I'm dying to see him."

After a minute, Seung-Gil Lee came on the video. He was his usual stoic self and didn't seem all that excited to see either one. He just nodded when he saw Yuuri. That was his typical way of saying hello to anyone. Phichit, on the other hand, was excited to see him and waved. They two had gotten together over the past few months and were trying to make their relationship work while overseas.

"Hi, Seung-Gil! I hope it's not too late for you."

"It is but I have a feeling you have something for me. Ever since you called in the middle of the night with that video, I began doing research. I will admit I didn't find anything new. What you were told was what I saw. It does sound like the ghosts were lovers who kept their entire relationship a secret for one reason; no one else liked the servant. He was abused by the rest of the family. If he wasn't being beaten, he was being starved to death. The only reason he survived was because of the prince. He was kept alive because of his lover."

"That doesn't help too much." Phichit sighed. "Did you find a reason why everyone else abused him?"

"Not much. The biggest theory is that many found out about the secret affair. Another theory is that the servant, compared to others who worked in the castle, was a very handsome man. He was intelligent despite his upbringing. He knew more than the average servant did and that infuriated some people. They decided that the only way to break him was to make him more miserable. They hoped to drive him away from the castle."

"He didn't leave though." Yuuri realized. "He stayed up until the moment he died."

"Indeed. I guess the power of love was stronger than anything else. He was able to endure the abuse from others and keep the relationship a secret. Another thing that I did find out is that no one ever gave him a proper burial. They never found his body and never bothered to look for it. No one cared enough about him."

"Well, that is interesting. Do you know if there's a way to reunite them?"

"No. I didn't bother to look for that but I can try. It is probably the only way you can get rid of them. Now is there anything else?"

"One more thing; is it possible for a ghost to hurt someone physically? Could they kill a person?"

There was a brief pause even though Seung-Gil's face remained neutral. They couldn't tell if he was thinking about this or if was just annoyed by the question. "It's very unlikely a ghost would kill someone. However, ghosts can find a way to touch you. If they want to, they can hurt you. They'll find ways to hurt you and scare you."

That made sense. It explained Victor's nightmares and sudden injuries. They were small for now and could easily be hidden. "What happens if you ignore the ghost?"

"It's highly unlikely you'll be able to do that. It's going to make noise and hurt people around you until you notice. I am looking for a way to get rid of it. All I can suggest is to make note of all the paranormal activity around you. Write down everything you notice. If you can, try to move out of your room. I guarantee you will feel better and you won't be bothered." Seung-Gil paused for a second. “You know, I’m wondering if it’s trying to pass into this world.”

“Pass into this world?”

“It’s just a theory but people think that ghosts have the ability to come into our world. In order to do that, they have to trade with a living human. So it’s essentially exchanging a life for a life. They will make a deal with the human and, if accepted, will cross over into our world. The human, in turn, will die.”

“You think that can really happen?” Phichit asked. 

“I’m not that certain. I don’t know of anyone who has done this. All I know are the stories. I can only suggest that you watch everyone. Make sure nothing happens to them. Find out the truth about this place or you could be in danger.”

Yuuri swallowed. He didn’t need to be told they were in danger. He could see that all around him. They were going to have to stop this ghost soon. If he didn’t stop it, Victor would be the one to pay.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the day went by like usual but Yuuri was noticing some strange patterns. Everyone that had room below the fifth floor wasn't haunted by anything. At least, they weren’t haunted by a malevolent spirit. Their rooms smelled like flowers or spices. When he entered Phichit's room, he was greeted by a wafting scent of vanilla and cinnamon.

"It's been smelling like this ever since I entered it." Phichit explained. "I thought someone had put in an air freshener or sprayed it with something. It turns out that no one had done that. The staff claims that this room always smells like vanilla and cinnamon whenever one of the ghosts is around. I've been trying to catch it in action but I haven't been successful."

He wasn't the only one who had wonderful smelling rooms. Otabek's room smelled like pine trees and chopped wood. Yurio's room had a scent of lavender in it. Georgi's room smelled like lilies and apples. Almost everyone on the bottom floor didn't mind their room at all. In addition to that, every room had a warm feeling inside of it. It was like someone was trying to hug them and hold them together. Sometimes, the ghost was trying to put other people together. In one instant, Phichit mentioned how it felt like someone was pushing towards Chris. Something gave him a nudge and made him lean on Chris' shoulder. In another instance, Yurio felt someone poking until he finally leaned against Otabek.

"I think the ghost wants everyone to get along." Phichit decided. "I don't see anything wrong with that. Emil and Mickey got pushed together a lot. So did Mila and Sara. I think this ghost just likes everyone. I think he's trying to turn us all into friends."

The bottom floor guests were indeed enjoying their time. The top floor guests had a whole different story. There were smells of the rooms but not of flowers and spices. Rather, there was a putrid smell that was coming from JJ's room. It was so terrible that JJ, his parents, and Isabella had to leave it. The hotel staff could not find out where the stench was coming from. Chris also had a horrible smell in his and it seemed like something had died in it. Once again, the room was checked but nothing was found.

"This is beyond ridiculous." He muttered. "How can I get any beauty sleep if it smells like a dead body in there?"

The water in the upper floor rooms was also very strange. Sometimes, it could clear and clean. In other times, it came out brown and dirty. Yuuri decided that there was no way anyone could drink the water here. They would have to buy their own bottles. A plumber had checked out the bathrooms and sinks but couldn't see any issues. The pipes were all clean and no one else had complained about the water before. The only answer that anyone had was that the spirit was doing this.

"He plays around with guests a lot." Staff members would tell them. "I wouldn't worry about this too much. It's his way of welcoming you."

Smells and dirty water could be taken care of. Victor's injuries were another story. It seemed like he was getting more of them as each hour passed. Now he had two new wounds around his wrists. They weren't like the typical bruises on his back but lacerations. When Yuuri took a better look at Victor's hands, he stared at how deep the injuries were. This didn't come from a fall or anyone hitting him. It was the type of wound he'd see if someone had tied Victor's hands.

"You have to tell me who's doing this to you." Yuuri had enough. "You can't tell me it's nothing anymore! I see it! Yurio saw it! We know you are not the kind of person to fall all the time. Be honest with me; who hurt you?"

"No one hurt me."

"Don't lie me."

"I'm not lying. I had some bad dreams..."

"Again? What did you dream about this time?"

Victor looked into Yuuri's eyes and knew he couldn't keep this a secret anymore. He didn't want to lie to Yuuri even if he had no idea who was hurting him. He still heard the same voices mocking him as they beat him up in the dream.

_You are not worthy! You don't deserve him! Go away or I will make you suffer more!_

"All right." He gave in and sat down. "I cannot hide this from you anymore, Yuuri. You deserve the truth." As hard it was to explain, he needed to get it all out. "It's almost the same thing I dreamed the last two nights. It always starts the same way. I'm running down a dark road and I hear someone behind me. That person keeps taunting me, telling me I'm not good enough. I keep asking what they mean and they hit me. They keep hitting me and they tie my hands up. They tell me they are going to make me suffer. Then they try to kill me in some way or another. First they are strangling me. Then tried burying me alive. Then they tried to drown me. Before I can die, I wake up.”

"You think all the injuries are because of your dreams?"

"They have to be. I thought I couldn't get hurt in dreams but I guess I was wrong." He looked at his wrists and rubbed them. The last dream he had, the attacker tied him up and kicked him as he was lying on the ground. "All I keep hearing is that I'm not worthy and I should go away. I don't know why they want me to go away. What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing!" Yuuri insisted, taking his hands and squeezing them. "Victor, you haven't done anything wrong to me or anyone else. I'm not sure what this person in the dream is talking about. You are worthy of me. You are worthy of so much. I don't want you to think otherwise."

"My Yuuri..." Victor murmured. "I'm sorry to make you worry. I didn’t tell you because I knew you would be scared."

"It's not just you. It's this entire place. I feel like everyone is dealing with a ghost of some kind. Some of them get a friendly ghost who wants to be friends and put everyone together. Maybe we should just move rooms and find something on the lower floor." He decided. "I don't want anyone to hurt you."

"It's all right! It's only a few more days and then we can_"

"No, Victor! I want us to get out of this room now!" Yuuri had to put his foot down. These injuries were just too much to deal with and he didn't want to see Victor like this. "I don't care if we have to leave the hotel and go somewhere further! I'm not letting anything, ghost or not, hurt you again!"

It was so strange to hear himself say that and he had to calm down. "I'm sorry. I don't like what this ghost is doing to you. Actually, I'm not even sure if it is a ghost. I want it to stop. I can't_"

"Say no more. If this is what you want, we will move out of this room."

"I only want you to be safe. If it means getting away from the hotel, then that's what we'll do. I'm sure there has to be a room on the lower floor. No one on those floors are having issues with ghosts. If they do come across anything, it's a ghost trying to give them hugs. They get rooms that smell wonderful, not like death. I would rather deal with that than something that's hurting you."

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ll talk to someone and see if we get a different room. Hopefully, they can move us out soon.” He kissed Victor’s hand. “We’ll get through this. Don’t worry. Your nightmares are going to end soon.” 

An hour later, Yuuri went down to see if there was a room available on the bottom floor. The staff member looked through everything but was struggling. "I'm sorry but I can't see anything on the first five floors that is open. I will keep looking though. We have guests that are scheduled to leave tomorrow at noon. If you give us time to clean the room..."

"That will be fine. I would like to get out of that room as soon as possible. When something becomes available, please let me know."

"I will." Then she lowered her voice. "I guess the ghost didn't give you a warm welcome."

"Is it supposed to?"

"Normally, people don't have an issue with it. I know you've heard the stories about how nasty this ghost can be but it's a rare occasion. The most it might do is toss things around. It may leave messages for you. However, it never hurts anyone."

 _Until now._ Yuuri wanted to reply. Instead, he asked. "Has the ghost ever touched anyone and left a mark on them?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Then again, I've only been working here for a year. I've been up to the top floors a few times. I've smelled some strange things and the paintings sometimes ended up crooked. That's the worst I've dealt with. Guests have told me all kinds of stories and some did admit they were touched by the ghost. However, it never left a mark."

“I see.” Yuuri nodded. “Um, here’s another weird question. Has a ghost ever tried to cross into this world?”

“Meaning…”

“Did a ghost ever try to kill anyone and come into our world? I know it sounds crazy but I’m curious if that can happen.”

“Well, I don’t know of any ghosts that have done that. I would like to think they can’t. They’re on the other side. I doubt they can cross over.” She looked around. “Anyway, I’ll keep my eye out on a room for you. You won’t have to deal with it for much longer.”

He thanked her but still had his doubts. Maybe now the spirit wanted to cross over into this world. But why? What could it want over here? He knew that this ghost was hurting Victor. It wanted something out of Victor. He needed to figure out what it was. The best way to find that was to talk to the ghost. 

After dinner, Georgi had a plan to contact the spirits again. Now he had a Ouija board and figured this would be a better way of getting a hold of something. Since everyone had dealt with a ghost in one form or another, they needed more answers. The coaches had told them to go to bed early but they couldn't. They needed to get a hold of the spirits.

"Are we sure this will work?" Yuri asked as they went back to the same room again. It was unusually chilly but it would do. "I've never used one of these things before."

"Oh, it's not that hard to use." JJ said. "You just ask the ghost some questions and then they'll answer with the board. All our hands will be on it as it moves."

"So someone could easily cheat and make this move? I don't see how this will help." Otabek pointed out. "Why would a ghost try to talk to us through this?"

"Ah, lighten up, Otabek! It's all in fun! I'm sure you're going to enjoy it."

“I’m still not sure about any of this.” 

"Turn off the lights." Georgi told them, ignoring him. “It is time.” 

"Why? Then we can't see the board. We won't know what the ghost is saying."

"Then we will lower the lights. Now think well about your questions and I will try to contact the spirits. I need complete silence and then I will tell you what to do. Now stay still." Georgi closed his eyes and called upon on the ghosts. "Spirits in this place, I beckon you to come before us! We mean you no harm! We only wish to know more about you!"

"This is even more stupid than last time. Why are we doing this again?" Yuri whispered.

"Silence!" Georgi barked. They were silent for a minute before he told them what to do. "Hands on the planchette please. Do not do anything except place your hand upon it."

One by one, everyone put their hands on the wooden piece. Some of them could not get their hands on it so they stood in the back to keep watch. Phichit had his camera ready to record everything. Georgi took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Spirits, are you in this room? Please respond."

The planchette suddenly began to move though no one could tell who was moving it. Slowly, it made its way down to where it said 'Yes'. Yuuri shuddered but told himself that someone was actually doing all this. Maybe it was all of them moving it.

"You may now begin to ask your questions." Georgi instructed.

Phichit went first since he had many of them. "Spirit, how old are you?"

The planchette moved towards the 2 and then towards the 5. Then it moved once more to the 2 and then the 1. He wrote this number down: 2521. It did not make sense until he realize that they may possibly have two spirits in the room. One of them was 25 and the other was 21.

"All right, spirit. Where were you born?"

Again, the planchette was moved towards the letters 'H,E,R, and then back to the E. It should have been enough until it moved again to 'F.A, and R'. Here and far. This didn't help much but it did prove two spirits were around.

"Spirit, do you know who all of us are?" Mila asked.

This time, it moved towards 'Yes.' So one or both of them were aware that these were figure skaters. Mila decided to ask another question.

"What do you do?"

First time around, the letters went to 'R, U, L, and E. The second time was 'W, O, R, and K."

Rule and work. The more they thought about it, the more it seemed like these were the two spirits from the story. Then the planchette began to move again and it was going all over the board. No one was able to keep their hands on it as it went all over the letter.

"Huh? Someone stop this thing!" Yuri demanded. "Whoever you are, stop moving!"

Phichit was trying his hardest to keep up with all the letters. He was only able to make out a few of them. 'HE BELONGS TO ME. GO AWAY OR ELSE.'

"Whoa!" JJ whispered. "Who are you talking about?"

It moved again to the letters 'M, Y, L, O, V, and E."

"My love?" Phichit was confused. "Who is your love, spirit?"

A new word was formed. 'HIM.'

"Are we even doing this right?" Otabek asked. “Who is ‘him’?” 

"I'm sure someone's fooling around. There's no way there can be two spirits in this room." JJ said. "That's not how this works...is it? The few times I played this, it’s just been for fun."

The lights flickered at that moment and the wooden piece moved again to the following numbers 1 and 2. Phichit wrote down 12 and wondered this was supposed to mean. Who was the love? Finally, he asked the one question on everyone's mind.

"Are you angry at someone? If so, who?"

It moved all around the board to spell out 'BIKTORY'. For a second, no one could understand who this was until they realized the spirit meant to write 'VICTORY'. Yuri scoffed when he saw that.

"This ghost is stupid. And who the hell is Victory?"

Yuuri turned to Victor, expecting him to understand this. Perhaps someone meant to write 'VICTOR' and wrote the wrong thing. However, Victor didn't have any emotions on his face. He had gone blank completely. Why would a ghost from the past be mad at him? 

**BANG! BANG!**

“What the fuck?!” Yuri yelled. “Who’s shooting at us?”

He soon found out as the lightbulbs above exploded. One by one, they were breaking and exploding. The lights completely went out at that point and the door closed behind them. Someone let out a yelp and everyone began to talk at once.

"Wait, who did that?"

"Was that the wind?"

"It feels like I'm in a hole."

"No, it feels like the Tunnel of Love."

Someone chuckled at that response.

Yuuri tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness and fumbled around the room for the light switch. Why would anyone think to turn this off or close the door? He found the doorknob but had a hard time trying to open it. They were locked in. He tugged hard on the knob but the door didn't budge. Someone let out a shriek and then Georgi began yelling at them.

"SILENCE!"

The whole room fell silent but he kept going. "You...You are not worthy of him! How dare you even think of looking at him?! He is mine!"

"Who is he screaming at?" Phichit whispered.

No one had an answer because Georgi kept taunting someone. "You think you are so much better than I am, do you? You think you belong to him. Unfortunately, you do not. I've told you multiple times that he deserves someone worthy of him. That's not you. That will never be you!"

"Georgi, what are you saying?!" Mila demanded. "Stop screaming! Who are you yelling at?"

"You disgust me, pig! Go away!"

"Georgi_"

"GO AWAY!"

With that, they heard Georgi throwing something at the wall and it crashing against it. Yuuri felt this thing flying by his ear and realized that it was glass. That glass hadn't hit the wall but the mirror behind them. Up until now, he had never noticed the mirror but he could see Victor's face through the shards. Normally, this would be a comforting sight. It wasn't right now. Victor's face in the mirror was covered in blood. His eyes, instead being the soft blue, were now hard and yellow.

"Victor?"

"Yuuri?" The image didn't say anything and the voice had come from somewhere next to him. He stared at the reflection and saw Victor grinning. It wasn't Victor. It was something evil. A horrible monster was here. 

No, no! Yuuri could feel his breath getting shorter. He wanted to curl up onto the floor. Deep in his chest, he felt something heavy weighing down on him. God, please don't let me have a panic attack right now! This can't be real! This isn't real! I’m imagining all this! He’s not real! 

"Yuuri? Yuuri, where are you?" He heard Victor asking. That was the Victor he knew and loved, not this horrific bloodied image. The Victor in the mirror was oozing out more blood and something that looked like brain matter. Yuuri covered his mouth and tried not to vomit out of fear. His head was spinning and he couldn't answer Victor.

Let me out of here! Someone let me out!

“Yuuri, help! Where are you?!”

Yuuri stared at the frightening creature showing off its bloody wounds and guts spilling out. The grin it gave him was not friendly. Before he had a chance to react, the creature in that mirror lunged out at him and came out of it. Everyone screamed at that moment as the apparition floated in front of them. It was a bloodied, disgusting creature whose yellow eyes turned red and whose sharp teeth were bare. 

“Fuck!” Yuri yelled, trying to throw something at it. “Who did this?!”

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

At that moment, someone opened the door and light poured into the room. The image in the mirror disappeared and they could see the glass shards on the ground. Yakov was standing the doorway, displeased at the mess. The rest of the skaters let out shrieks but they were also glad to see a familiar face.

"What is going on in here?!" He demanded. "Someone turn on these lights immediately! Enough of this foolishness! All of you, go to bed!"

"Oh, Coach Yakov!" Mila gasped, looking down at the glass pieces everywhere. The lights were back on now and they could see what went wrong. In the darkness, Georgi had thrown a glass on the table and it crashed against the mirror. Now the floor was full of shards and they had to watch where they were stepping. "We are sorry! We just_"

"I do not want to hear any excuses! I want everyone out of here and their rooms now!" Yakov looked over at Yuuri who was on the ground. Unlike everyone else, he had fallen to the floor and covered his face. The apparition was too much for him. "What happened to him?"

"It's nothing, Yakov! I think poor Yuuri was scared." Victor kneeled down by him and tried to help him up to his feet. He had his arms around Yuuri, trying to calm him down. He was also terrified but the danger was gone. Whatever they had seen wouldn’t be back. "Come now. It's over. There is nothing to worry about."

"Victor, I..." Yuuri stared at the broken mirror and saw nothing. There was no image but his reflection in broken pieces. "I don't understand..."

"There is nothing to understand. We got carried away.” He whispered, helping Yuuri onto his feet. I'll take him outside, Yakov. Maybe that might help clear his mind."

"Good! I swear, all of you are going to..." Then he paused when he looked at Victor. That was when he noticed the tiny trickle of blood running down Victor’s face. "Vitya, what happened to you?"

"Nothing. It's just a small injury."

"Do not lie to me! Who hurt you?!"

"No one!"

"You keep saying that! You cannot keep this a secret from me! I will find out who it is and they will pay! I promise you that much. Now go get that cut cleaned up and go to bed!"

Cut? Yuuri looked over at Victor and saw what Yakov was talking about. Victor did have a small scratch that was bleeding now. One of those shards must have struck him in the dark. He didn't know how but it got to him. Now his poor face had this horrible mark on it.

 _It was all my fault. I should have been able to protect him like I promised._ Yuuri swallowed. The panic was slowly going away but his head and heart felt like they weighed a ton. He couldn't stop thinking about that bloodied image of Victor in the broken mirror. He knew he didn't imagine that at all. This reflection of Victor wasn't friendly at all. The yellow eyes, blood, and brain matters falling down his face would have given anyone a nightmare.

"Yuuri...Yuuri, please..." Now Yakov's voice had softened. "I am not sure what happened here but you need to leave the room. Go get some rest. Step outside for a little bit if you need to. Just clear your head and try to sleep it off. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

"I...I..." Yuuri fumbled around for his words. This was no longer fun or games. Someone was after them. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…”

“It’s just a cut. Things got carried away.You didn’t hurt me. Now let’s go.”

Yuuri couldn’t shake the image out of his head. He felt like he had a million answers yet nothing made sense. He did understand one thing. This spirit was angry at Victor for something. It felt like Victor had hurt him in some way. It was trying to scare and get rid of Victor. 

_But why?_ He wondered. _What did Victor do to deserve this?_

His phone went off and he took a look at it.

**It won’t be long now, my love. I will see you soon. :)**

~ ~ ~

Yakov was angry over the mess that was in the meeting room. Now he had to pay for the broken mirror and glass as well as any other damages that were caused. A few of the skaters offered to help him pay but it didn't ease his mood. He hated that they had disobeyed him just to go and contact some ghosts. He was even more upset when he saw the cut on Victor's cheek and the broken light bulbs. Now they had to deal with damaged property.

"I have had enough of this!" He glowered at his skaters who were shaken by last night's events. "No more hunting for ghosts, raising the dead, or anything of that sort! You are here for a competition! I want to see you focus on that!"

He was right but it was hard to stay focused. Once more, Georgi claimed that he didn't remember throwing anything in the dark. He felt something strange fall over him and admitted that it was warm. The darkness soon turned red before him but that was far as he could recall. No matter how he felt about anyone else, he would never try to harm them. He certainly wouldn't try to break a mirror since that brought seven years of bad luck. He was sure that chances were high no one was going to win the World Championships.

"This spirit doesn't want us to win." He warned them. "The message is clear. We will not win."

More than that, everyone was worried about Victor. His injury turned out to be small but it was still there. It would leave a mark for the next few days. Yakov was happy to hear that the cut wasn't deep. It had to be covered but that was easy to handle. This would not affect Victor's ability to coach or skate. When that was cleared up, the tension in the room went away.

"Keep an eye on him." Yakov instructed Yuuri before they went to bed. "I'm not sure what he is doing but he can't afford any injuries, no matter how small. I've seen him losing focus on the ice. That's not normal."

"I'll do my best to look after him." Yuuri promised. "I'm sure he's going to be fine by the time the competition starts."

"I hope you are right."

Yuuri had calmed down from the night before but he could still see that image of Victor in that broken mirror. He had not told anyone else about this except for Phichit. It was something he wanted to forget but he could still picture the blood and brain matter falling out of Victor's head. This was the type of thing he expected in horror movies, not reality. Then there were the constant changing eyes, yellow to red. They weren't human.

"Whoa! I wish I had gotten a picture of that! I tried to get a picture of the apparition but I dropped my phone at that moment! By the time I found it, it was gone!" Phichit exclaimed after Yuuri told him the whole thing. "That would have been definitive proof. I've been replaying the video and it just cuts off right before the glass is thrown. This time, the audio is clear. I can hear everything Georgi said but it doesn't sound like him."

"I wonder if this ghost or ghosts just don't like Victor. No one else ends up with injuries like he does. No one else has complained about getting hurt in dreams. Then the Ouija tried to spell out his name." Yuuri murmured. "I don't understand. Why does it hate him so much?"

Phichit looked around the room and saw what he was looking for. There was that painting they were all afraid of. "I think I might have your answer. It's you."

"Me?"

"Well, it someone who looks like you. Don't remember the story from when we first came into the hotel? Everyone said that painting looked like you. Then we learned about the prince and his lover who had their secret affair. I wonder if the ghost you're dealing with is that of the lover. It may be a stretch but maybe this ghost thinks you're the same guy in the painting. I think it's trying to get rid of everyone in its way." He snapped his fingers. “Maybe Seung-Gil was onto something. The lover might want to cross into this world to be with his lover.”

“I’m not his lover though.”

“He doesn’t know that. He took a look at you and decided that you were him.” 

Yuuri looked at the painting and felt sick. He had seen that thing wink at him and have glowing eyes. He had seen the small smile on its lips widened into a toothy grin. As farfetched as it sounded, Phichit did have a point. The ghost that was taunting them probably was trying to get his attention. They wanted him. Since Victor was the closest one to him, he was the easiest target.

"Let's say you're right. How do we stop this?"

"Say no more! I have gotten plenty of people to help me out with!" Phichit promised. "I've asked Leo and Guang-Hong as well as Minami to do a little research for me. My phone has been buzzing all morning long. All three of them agree with me that your ghost hates Victor. It wants Victor to go away and leave you alone. It's trying its hardest to get him out of your life."

"But I don't want that!" Yuuri shook his head. "Why can't we get rid of the ghosts? Victor is my coach, my friends, my love...I don't want to lose him because of a jealous ghost."

"And you won't. We're going to protect Victor somehow. I've asked Leo, Guang-Hong, Minami, and Seung-Gil to find me a solution to all of this. We need to get these ghosts away from you. We need to convince them that you mean no harm. I just don't know how."

"I don't suppose talking to them will work?"

"That's what the seance was for and you saw what happened. Now help me figure out what 12 is about. I'm not sure if this was one ghost or two but it kept going back to the 12."

"12? I can't think of anything in particular. I would ask Georgi but he still claims he doesn't saying or doing anything. He only remembers the lights being on and everyone playing with the Ouija board. He doesn't remember the lights going out, the mirror breaking, or the warning he gave us. I believe him though. He has no reason to hurt anyone. No matter what he feels about Victor, he wouldn't physically hurt him. He wouldn't try to break anything in this place."

"Well, I'll keep looking. I haven't noticed any weird images in the mirror like the one you mentioned. Are you sure it was a dead Victor?"

"I know Victor's face by now. It was supposed to be him but..." Yuuri shuddered. "I hope I never see that again."

"Try to forget about it now. Do you think you can change rooms? JJ and Chris are trying to get out of theirs. They both smelled something rancid in theirs and the water is still dirty. Chris swears he saw some shadowed figure in his mirror but doesn't know who it could be. He looked around the bathroom and saw no one. No one was in his bedroom either."

"How about anything with red or yellow eyes?"

"I saw a strange light bouncing around but I figured it came from outside. I'm sorry, Yuuri." Phichit shook his head. "I'm trying my hardest to help but I don't have much."

 

"You don't need to be sorry. You're helping me a lot more than you realize. Now if we could just get these ghosts away from us, I wouldn't have to worry about anything."

Before Phichit could reply, they both heard someone calling out to the. "Yuuri! There you are!"

Victor ran up to them and Yuuri's mood instantly got better. Seeing Victor always made him feel happy or at least it used to. He smiled for a few seconds until he saw the tape covering Victor's cut. That was the painful reminder of what happened last night. It was proof that everything they went through was real. That glass shard had missed Victor's left eye by a few inches, which was fortunate.

 _I can't believe I wasn't strong enough to help him. I crumbled out of fear instead of standing up to that ghost. I was right there and I let him get hurt._ Yuuri thought about all the other bruises Victor had. He remembered all the nightmares Victor dealt with; being buried alive, being dragged by demons into the ground, being chased around and beaten, and much more. As much as hated to believe it, Phichit may have had a point. The ghost hated Victor. The ghost was doing everything it could to get rid of Victor.

"Uh-oh, I don't like that face." Victor was still cheerful as ever. "Let me guess; I forgot to do something I should have done?"

"No, it's just...your face..." Yuuri began.

"This? It's nothing! I can cover it right before the competition. Mila already offered to help me with that."

"Mila? You didn't ask Georgi?"

That was a stupid question. Victor's smile fell a little but he still tried to remain optimistic. "I think it's probably a good idea not to ask Georgi for anything now. He offered to help but I said no. He still says he doesn't remember what happened last night."

"I'm not surprised." Phichit sighed. "I think he's being honest though. That wasn't him trying to hurt anyone. From what I know, Georgi is many things but he's not cruel."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm fine now. I have good news too. They found us a new room! It took them some time but they got it!" Victor exclaimed. "It's on the fifth floor and they want to clean it first but we can move in later!"

"That's great!" Yuuri was relieved to hear this. He didn't know if he could take any more strange smells or funny feelings in the shower. Now they could both get some peace and quiet. He would rather handle a friendly ghosts that gave hugs and wonderful smelling rooms. "I hope that will end your nightmares."

"Fifth floor? Oh, that's where I am!" Phichit flipped through his phone for all the video and pictures he took of ghostly activity. "That will be great! You can both help me find all the paranormal activity happening there!"

"Um...I think we'll skip out on that. I'm sure someone else will be happy to help."

"Chris is helping me out. He's desperate to catch the underwear thief and asked me for assistance. As of yet, we haven't found them. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a good idea who did do it though."

"I hope you find them one day. All right, Yuuri! Can I talk to you for a second?" Victor asked. "It's private."

"Oooh, private. I can take a hint." Phichit grinned. "I'm done here anyway. You can take my place. I need to give Seung-Gil a call and see if he's found anything new. I’ll keep you in the loop, okay?"

Now that they were alone, Victor became serious. He sat down at the table and looked around to make sure no one came in. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Someone just whispered 'go away' in my ear. It's not the only time I heard that. In fact", he pulled out his phone and showed off some messages, "I keep getting this message sent to me from an unknown number."

Yuuri looked at it and saw 'HE IS MINE! WE HATE YOU! LEAVE OR ELSE!' type over and over again. It looked like a child had been messing around with them but the number didn't look familiar. In fact, there was no phone number at all, just several zeros. "Did you tell anyone else about this?"

"I showed Chris and he thinks someone is trying to scare me." He put the phone away and sighed. "I'm sorry, Yuuri. You were right. I should have said something sooner."

"Sorry about what? You didn't do anything wrong. We'll find out who's bothering you and we'll take care of them."

"That's not all. I went looking in my pictures and..." He flipped through the photo album. "Well, I saw this."

The message had been awful but the pictures in Victor's phone were much worse. Someone had destroyed pictures of Makkachin and others from various places. In the pictures where Victor was with Yuuri, someone scribbled all over Victor's face and left the words 'GO AWAY' over it. Some other people in the pictures such as Chris and Yuri also had the faces scribbled on. Even JJ, who was standing all the way in the distance, got red marks on him. The worst were the photos of Makkachin. Not only did someone scribble all over them, they had left the following messages on each one: 'LEAVE OR I WILL TAKE HER FROM YOU!' or 'GO AWAY OR SHE WILL SUFFER!' The worst was the last message. ‘I WILL KILL HER! LEAVE THIS WORLD OR SHE DIES!’ 

"You have to tell Yakov about this! No, you have to tell the police!” Yuuri shoved the phone back in Victor's hands. "You have proof someone is threatening you! We can do something about this!"

"Yuuri, I_"

"No, I can’t take it! If you won't say anything, then I will." It felt strange when those words came out of his mouth. However, Yuuri was getting fed up. Ghost or not, this had to end. "I'm serious. You can't pretend that you aren't in pain when I can see it. Everyone can see it. I know these dreams aren't normal. Nothing that's happening to you is normal. I know you're trying to hide it for me but don't do that. Let me help you. If you care about me, you will let me help you." He took a deep breath. “Please, Victor, let me help you.” 

"Yuuri_" Victor tried once again to interrupt but Yuuri didn't want to hear it. He felt something breathing down his neck at that moment and looked to see who was behind them. No one. As usual, it was no one. "Yuuri, I never meant to hurt you_"

"I know." Yuuri cut him off yet again, his forehead pressing against Victor's. "I know you aren't trying to scare me but something else is. It's the same thing that's scaring everyone. As soon as we get rid of it, the better I'm going to feel. The better it will be for everyone."

Victor had to smile at that. Just looking at Yuuri could bring a smile to his face but now he felt safe. They were moving to a new room, competition would start soon, and things were going to be fine. No ghosts would try to hurt them. Ghosts weren't real. They couldn't kill anyone. All they could do was scare people and they had succeeded.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn’t see the waitress balancing a million places at once. He almost didn’t see her trip on the carpet and the plates go flying into the air. Amongst all of them was a cup of hot tea that was heading straight to Victor. 

"Victor, watch out!" Yuuri gasped.

It was too late to react as hot tea spilled on his hand. The poor waitress lost her balance and was unable to keep anything from pouring. Victor winced while the waitress kept apologizing over and over again. She had no idea what happened but it felt like someone had pushed her from behind. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She apologized, running over to get some napkins. "I have no idea what happened!"

"Don't worry about it!" Victor forced himself to smile through the pain. "I've been through worse!"

“Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”

“It will be okay. This pain will go away.” He promised her. “Accidents happen.”

It’s no accident. Yuuri realized. Victor could deny it all he wanted but this was done on purpose. This ghost was still after him. It didn’t matter if they moved rooms or not. The ghost was going to get Victor soon. If Seung-Gil’s theory was right, then this ghost was trying to cross over to the other world. The only way it could do that was exchanging a life for a life. It was going to come after Victor now and try to make the trade. 

“Yuuri, are you okay?” Victor asked.

“No.” Yuuri whispered. “Nothing is okay. You have to promise that you will stay put, Victor. Don’t leave this hotel. Don’t leave the room for anything. Don’t answer the door if someone knocks on it. If you need anything, you tell me or Yurio or anyone else. Just stay where you are.”

“Yuuri, I can’t.”

“You have to! I need to figure out what is going on. Until I do, don’t do anything. For once, let me handle this. Listen to me.” He begged. “Just listen to me, Victor. If you really love me, you’ll do that.” 

Victor saw how serious Yuuri was. “Okay, I won’t do anything. I’ll stay here.”

“Thank you.” He gave him a quick kiss. “Wait in our room. I swear the nightmares will end soon.” 

His phone went off at that moment and one new message appeared from the strange number.

**I hope that hurt you, demon. Too bad it didn't burn your pretty face off :)**

Yuuri gulped and shut off his phone. This madness was going to end soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise you that Makka will be safe! I refuse to hurt the doggo! (She's not even there to begin with) Makkachin lives forever!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where things get a bit dicey and the ending may shock some of you. Please note there is one more chapter after this!
> 
> At the end of the fic, I've got a fan art from Sol! Check it out!

They seemed to get a break the next morning. Victor didn't have any more bruises though he did admit he still had some nightmares. This time, the evil entity was trying to burn him alive. The dream started like any other. He and Yuuri were walking Makkachin down the shore when flames suddenly shot up from the sand. Within seconds, the entire beach was covered in fire. Both Yuuri and Makkachin went up in smoke in his dream and that demon chasing him around there. It lingered over him as the fire tried to swallow him. The incident with the coffee didn't seem like much. It really did feel like an accident until the message came in. The ghost was pleased by this.

"You can never escape." The evil entity hissed in his ear as the flames got higher. "No matter where you go, I will be right behind you. Leave him or else. If you won’t, then maybe we can make a deal. Let’s swap places. Your life for mine. You can protect everyone if you just make this tiny exchange."

It was a relief when Victor woke up after a few hours. He was sweating and shaking but still very much alive. He didn't have any burns on his body besides the spot where the tea had fallen earlier. Moving rooms did help a little bit. The evil spirit, whatever it was, wouldn't hurt him here. All it could do was haunt his dreams.

At the same time, seeing Victor like this was helping Yuuri get any sleep. He wanted a way to get rid of these ghosts. If he had to reunite them himself, he would do it. It would make things quiet in the hotel but it would be worth it. Although all the skaters had been moved to lower floors, other hotel guests were dealing with the wrath of the evil spirit. Paintings and mirrors were crashing to the ground. Things were being knocked over. A woman even claimed that someone was poking her nostrils while she sleeping and a man admitted that he felt like someone was breathing down his neck.

"Stupid ghosts! Why the hell aren't they showing their faces, huh?" Yurio grumbled that morning at breakfast. As annoyed as he was with them, he was still eager to see one in person. He was dragging Otabek from floor to floor any time he sensed something odd. However, he had yet to see the ghost. "They're a bunch of cowards."

"I wouldn't say they don't want to see you. I think they're trying to make their presence known. That would explain all the strange things going on." Phichit said, looking at his phone. "Oh, Seung-Gil is awake and he has something for us! Maybe we finally a solution to this ghost problem."

"I hope so. I don't know how much more I take this." Yuuri looked over at Yuri who was still looking around for something. "Did you see a ghost?"

"Pfft, no! I thought I saw Otabek but it was nothing." He looked at the painting in the lobby. It was a few feet from them but the painting's eyes were locked on their table. "Ugh, someone get rid of that thing! No offense, Katsudon, but I don't want to see that creepy painting of you anymore!"

"That's not a painting of me!" Yuuri stared at it and understood what Yuri meant. "I don't blame you for thinking that. I don't like it either. We should probably sit somewhere else."

"I don't think it will make a difference. That painting will still be in the lobby." Phichit waited for Seung-Gil to come on. "All right, we may have an answer soon!"

Seung-Gil appeared, looking tired yet somewhat pleased to see Phichit. "You are in luck. I did a lot more research about your hotel and we may have a solution to this problem."

"Oh good! What do we have to do?"

"Well, it's exactly as that spirit told you. You need to reunite the lovers. You need to get them to see each other at the same time."

Yuuri felt the sweat forming on his brow. "I was hoping for an easier solution. Can't we just get rid of them?"

"That is how you will get rid of them." Seung-Gil didn't seem to care that they were all hesitant. "First, you will have to lure each one out. You have to get them to follow you by telling them you have something for them. You will have to give each one a peace offering. They won't appear otherwise."

"Wait, so I can finally see a ghost if we do this?!" Yuri exclaimed, finally interested in all of this. "Awesome! What do we need to give them?!" 

"Honestly, they didn't say anything specific. You will have to talk to them first. You have to let them know that you are aware of their presence and that you mean no harm. This is especially crucial for the one on the top floor. I did some research on the supposed ghosts that are haunting this place. I'm not surprised at all by what you told me. The servant was treated horribly while he was still alive. He was beaten badly if he did something wrong. A lot of times he was scratched and once he was burned when hot water fell on his back. Now I don't know if all of this accurate but I found this information from multiple sources."

"That might explain why this spirit is so angry all the time. He endured a lot while he was alive." Phichit whispered. "He probably wants to take out this rage on someone. Unfortunately for us, he's taking it out on Victor."

"Is that so?" Seung-Gil was suddenly interested by this.

"Yeah, Victor's been dealing with something that keeps haunting him in dreams." Yuuri explained. "He doesn't want to tell me much about it but he did say it was some evil entity that follows him around. In every dream, it's there and it keeps trying to hurt him. He tells me that this thing tells him to go away and it beats him up. He's in denial about everything. He keeps saying it's a dream."

"Hmm..." Seung-Gil thought about this for a few seconds. "I'm not surprised he's saying that. This entity does have the ability to get into dreams. He's not the first person who went through something like this. The ghost always finds someone to take most of their rage out on. I think I know why Victor is it's main target."

"Why?"

"It's because of you."

"Me?"

"Oh yeah, I had a feeling about this!" Phichit nodded towards the painting. It was no longer grinning but it still gave Yuuri that awful feeling inside. "Remember when I said it looked like you? Well, maybe...and this is a big maybe...this evil ghost thinks you are its lover."

"Huh?" Yuuri felt the hole inside his stomach widen. "You cannot be serious!"

"Come on, hamster boy! You mean to tell me this ghost is in love with the piggy over here?" Yuri rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid he has a point." Seung-Gil cut in. "I've seen the painting in question as well as other artwork. The prince does have a striking resemblance to Yuuri. Perhaps this entity thinks you are its lover but it also saw you with Victor. It wants to be with you so it's going to do everything it can to get rid of all obstacles. It wants to cross into the real world so it wants to make a deal with someone. It might test people. In fact, it may test many people before settling on one. It wants to find a life to exchange."

“That might be the explanation to all the strange things happening to people.” Phichit said. “JJ getting burned, Chris’ underwear issue, Yuri sleepwalking...it was testing to find a good life to exchange. Then it found the biggest obstacle and the best choice.” 

"And the biggest one just happens to be Victor." Yuri concluded. "So we need to get rid of this ghost by reuniting it with another ghost?"

"That's right. You have to do it quickly or else."

"Or else what?" Phichit pressed on. "What will happen if things don't go smoothly?"

“It wants to exchange a life for a life. Think about it. How would you exchange a life for a life?” Seung-Gil narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have much time. You have to stop this ghost from crossing over. Let him cross to the afterlife with his lover.” 

"How can I_"

"Yuuri!"

They were cut off by Mila who was running towards them. The look on her face told them that it was urgent. "Thank goodness I found you! I was trying to call you but I couldn’t get a hold of you! You have to come with me! It's Victor!"

"Victor?" Yuuri ignored everything else and stood up. "What happened to Victor?"

"I...I don't know. You have to come with me to see it! We're trying to wake him up but..."

"Wake him up?" Now Yuuri felt the panic mode kick in. "What do you mean by wake him up? Where is he?!"

"Follow me!" She grabbed him by the arm and started heading towards the elevators. Phichit and Yuri followed him, forgetting all about the conversation they were having earlier. Phichit had to tell Seung-Gil that he would talk to him later. "Chris is the one who found him just a few minutes ago. I don't know how long he's been like this but..."

"Been like what?"

"I don't know what happened to him but he's not waking up. I think he fainted. He’s lying on the floor. We're trying everything. Yakov wants to take him to a hospital but I told him that you need to see him first. Maybe he'll wake up if he hears your voice."

Yuuri wanted to ask what that meant but his phone went off. He hoped that it was Victor or Chris or anyone telling him that Victor was okay. Looking at it, he got the worst news. 

**The monster has been silenced for eternity. He has accepted my deal. Now you and I can be together for the rest of our lives, my love :)**

Once again, it had come from a strange place with zeros instead of a phone number or name. Tracing the call last time proved to be no help but Yuuri was sure it was from the same source. It was the same thing that had been haunting Victor all this time. A second text followed that one.

**Soon, my love, soon. The monster will be silenced at midnight :)**

_The monster...why do they keep calling Victor a monster? He didn't do anything wrong. What happened? What's going on?_

He soon realized what Mila meant when they were on the top floor. Victor was lying on the ground with Chris and Yakov by his side. Both were trying their hardest to figure out what was wrong. He had a hard time seeing Victor's body with both of them hovering over it. The breath seemed to leave his body as he stared at it. Victor looked so peaceful but the color in his face was gone. He wasn't moving at all. 

Yuri peered at the body, unsure what to make of this. "No way! Is he..."

"No." Yakov assured them. "He is breathing. He has a pulse but it is faint. I don't know what happened but I need to get him to a hospital right away. I have no idea how he was led to this room or who did this. He isn’t waking up. We found him in this strange room."

Yuri was right behind him and gasped when he saw where he was. "Huh? What happened to him?! Oi, Victor! Get up!" 

"I don't think that'll work. I'm not even sure how he got here." 

“Yeah, why is he here? What the fuck...who does this belong to?” 

Yuuri looked up and saw what Yakov meant by strange room. It wasn't a hotel room like the others but something that looked like a child's hideout. There were dolls and stuffed animals galore, all staring with empty, glassy eyes. There was a pile of trinkets like eyeglasses, watches, and jewelry in a corner. Coins, bills, ticket stubs, keys, and other junk were in another corner. Yuri found something purple and long in the midst of all of these things and almost touched it. Once he realized what it was, he backed away. "Ugh, gross! What the hell is this doing?! Fucking nasty!"

"Don't touch anything!" Yakov scolded them. Then he looked at Yuuri. "I don't know how I can wake him up but maybe you can. Maybe he'll hear your voice and wake up."

“I...I don’t know…” 

"Pfft, I'll do it!" Yuri scoffed and tried to kick Victor's body. "Oi! Old man, wake up! This isn't funny!"

"I...I don't think that will work." Phichit said, trying to move Yuri away from the body. "Is he hurt?"

Yuuri couldn't hear anything else around him. His eyes were on Victor. Victor wasn't dead yet. His lips were turning blue but he was clinging to life. The ghost had done this to him. The ghost hurt him and was trying to take him away from the world. Slowly, he inched towards the body and gently touched Victor's hand. It felt like he was touching instead of skin. Deep down, Yuuri could feel a hole growing in his stomach. He wanted to break down and cry but something kept him from doing it.

"Victor?" He began, wondering if his voice would work. "Victor, it's me. I don't know if you can hear me but I need you to wake up. You have to. We want you to wake up." He squeezed Victor's cold hand hoping that Victor would squeeze it back. Nothing happened. "Please open your eyes. Say something. I...I don't like this. "

_A life for a life...an exchange..._

"I don't think this will work." Yakov murmured. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to send him to a hospital. Maybe they can figure out what's wrong."

Yuuri almost said yes to this until he remember the text that he just received.

**Soon, my love, soon. This monster will be silenced at midnight :)**

"Don't take him to a hospital right now." Yuuri suggested. “He made an exchange but I can stop it.” 

Yakov was puzzled. "What are you talking about? Yuuri, he isn't well. I have been around him long enough to know when he's ill. This isn't normal and I think a doctor should look after him."

"I understand but this is different. I need you to trust me on this. Please." Yuuri looked up at him, hoping Yakov could understand. Victor had said ages ago that if he needed a hug, Yakov was the perfect person for one. Without warning, he gave Yakov a hug and buried his face into him.

"Trust me." He whispered. "I know what I'm doing. All I need you to do is keep an eye on Victor for now. Take him to our room and watch after him. Please give me until midnight. If nothing changes, then we can take him to a hospital."

"Yuuri, I..."

"There is something I have to do first. I can't explain it but I need you to keep Victor here. I need you to watch after him and note if anything changes. It's only a few hours. Can you do that for me?"

Yakov didn't like this plan but he wanted to believe Yuuri. "All right, I will give you till midnight. We'll take him down to his room and keep watch. However, if he gets worse, we are taking him to the hospital. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you." Yuuri gave him another hug. "I swear I know what I'm doing. He'll be fine."

However, the more he looked at Victor's still body, the less confident he felt. He hoped that this plan would work out or else he could lose Victor forever. Midnight was just around the corner. If these lovers weren't reunited, it was over.

~ ~ ~

Seung-Gil had suggested that candles would be the best light for this. They needed one hallway to summon the spirits. Half of them would try to summon the friendly ghost, which would be easy. It was still giving everyone a big hug wherever it went. The rooms were always smelling wonderful. All this ghost wanted to do was have everyone get along. It was having too much fun playing Cupid and being fun. The other ghost was the real monster. 

The night of the full moon had finally come and they needed to get this done within the next few hours. It was only an hour before midnight but hopefully things would work out. Yuuri had no idea how he was going to lure the ghost out. Seung-Gil didn't tell them what to offer it so the best they could do right now was flowers. He felt terrible that the ghost had a horrible life while alive but things had to be fixed. They needed to reunite somehow. They had to stop the exchange. 

The hallway was lined with candles even though it was a fire hazard. They needed the light to lead both of these spirits to each other. As long as no one tipped over a candle, everything would be fine. At the end of the hallway, where the fire escape was, they had left a pile of flowers. Hopefully, no one would try to come up here. They were trying to help a ghost.

"Will this even work?" Chris asked. "What if it ignores us? What happens then?"

"I'm not sure. I guess they'll keep haunting this place forever." Phichit said. "Still, we have to give it a try. We have to see what we can do for them."

"All right, how do we speak to them?" Otabek wanted to know. "Who should go first?"

"Not me. That ghost is your problem, not mine." Yuri grumbled. "I'm only here because I want to see it."

"Allow me, everyone." JJ stepped up in front of Yuri who was already annoyed. "Hey, ghost! Listen, I forgive you for what you've done earlier. There's nothing you could do to stop the king from sitting on top of his throne! After all, it's", he did his symbol while Yuri gnashed his teeth, "JJ Style!"

"Um, I don't think that is going to lure them out." Phichit said. "We have to be gentle with him."

"I'll go then." Chris suggested. "Well, ghost, I forgive for taking my underwear. That's the first this happened by someone who wasn't a fan. And I forgive you for the smell in my room too. It was strange but...I guess you wanted some attention?"

Yuuri looked around the hallway. The flames in the candles flickered but nothing was happening. This probably wasn't how they were going lure this poor ghost out. He wanted to go next but the words were getting stuck in his throat. How was he going to say this to a poor spirit that just wanted to be loved? It was going about it the wrong way but that was what it wanted.

"You guys are idiots! Let me do it!" Yuri cut in front of JJ and looked at the pile of flowers in front of them. "I'm sorry people were a jerk to you and that turned you into a jerk."

There was a long silence and no spirit showing up. Otabek nudged him to continue to which he answered. "That's all I had."

Otabek sighed. "Forgive him. We weren't trying to bother you. We know what you went through now and we only want to help. If you can just show yourself, we can help you."

Once again, nothing happened. Yuuri felt the room getting cold but the words were finally come to him. He stepped out in front and tried hard not to swallow. If anyone could bring this ghost out, it was him. He was the one who resembled the other ghost. He was the one it would listen to.

"Hi, spirit. I know what you're thinking. I know you exchanged with Victor. A life for a life. You want to come into this world to be with me. For some reason, Victor agreed to that. He probably was trying to stop all of this. Maybe he wanted to keep me safe." He began. "You see me as your lost love and you want to reunite with me. That's what you want everyone else to go away. That's what you've been trying to tell Victor. You want him to leave me alone. You want to be with me because you think he's a threat. You want to be with me but here's the thing. I'm not your lover. I am a completely different person. I'm alive and you're not."

"Katsudon, what are you doing?" Yuri hissed.

"Yuuri, maybe_" Phichit started but it was too late. Yuuri was on a roll and he didn't want to stop.

"I can't be your lover because I love Victor. I'm always going to love Victor. We belong together. Without Victor, I wouldn't be who I am today. He did so much for me and to lost him would be one of the worst things to happen. So I'm asking you to please stop hurting him. Stop hurting my friends. None of them are trying to hurt me or you. Please don't hurt them or scare them anymore. Please stop your exchange. Don’t take Victor’s life to cross into this one."

"Yuuri_" Phichit once again to cut in. He saw how Yuuri's eyes had changed all of a sudden. The light that was in them had gone out. He was completely blank and his voice didn't sound so soft like before. Someone else had taken over for him. Someone else's voice was coming out of his mouth.

"What's going on?" Chris asked.

"I don't know but I think we're finally going to see something!" Phichit had the camera ready. With how cold the hallway had become, he knew they were going to see that spirit soon.

"I'm sorry that I can't be what you want me to be. I can't be yours. However, I can help you find your lover. He's here. I know he's here. If you can give me a sign, I can lead you to him. I'm sure he misses you too and is looking everywhere for you. He's got a lot of love to give everyone but he's saving most of it for you."

"What is he talking about?" Chris asked.

Phichit came up from behind and put his arms around Yuuri. Yuuri kept talking as he looked down at the flowers. "It's almost midnight. I know he's around here. Please follow me."

He pulled away from his friend and started to head the other way. He could feel the entire room getting colder as the candle lights were snuffed out, one by one. It felt like someone had taken over his body and was leading him away from everything. He could sense the ghost right behind him. He could hear the soft footsteps and feel someone touching his shoulder.

"Yuuri, wait!" Chris called out. "Where are you going?!"

Yuuri didn't turn around because there was no time to look back. He had to lead this ghost to its lover waiting on the bottom floor. All the lights were flickering in the hallway and the candles were being blown out. Even though he could hear people calling for him, he couldn't answer. Something was keeping him from answering. Someone was leading him to the bottom floor. He found the staircase and began to walk down it. Everything was dark and he couldn't see the steps below him. However, someone was still holding onto him.

"I'm almost there." He said to no one. He could feel that cold, bony hand on his shoulder as it was gripping him tightly. There was a mirror to see his side and he managed to get a quick glance at himself. He also saw something he didn't expect. The spirit was there. The skin was falling off its face and hands but it was there. "We're almost there."

He had no time to reflect on how much this spirit looked like Victor. Yes, this ghost had brain matter and blood dripping down it. Its jaw was crumbling and its nose was about to fall off but the rest of the resemblance was striking. Its eyes were empty and it didn't say anything to him. All it could do was give him a sad look and keep holding onto him.

Yuuri kept walking down those dark steps, unsure where he was headed. The others were trying to follow him but he was moving too fast. He didn't see where he was stepping yet he didn't trip or fall. The ghost was clinging to him with whatever it had left. He knew it felt bad about what it had done. All it wanted was its lover. It just wanted to be with the only one who ever cared about it.

"Yuuri! Yuuri, wait for me!" Chris kept calling out. "Please don't go!"

I'm sorry, everyone. This has to be done. Yuuri thought as he finally reached the third floor and found the door. Pushing it open, he found more lit candles in the hallway. This was where the rest of the skaters were. They had been trying to coax out the other spirit. Within seconds, a strong gust blew into the hallway and put out all the lights. Every bulb in the hallway went out and things were pitch black. The spirit was still right behind Yuuri and he could feel something against his neck. It was a cold feeling like something was blowing against his skin. He shuddered and moved forward.

Suddenly, a light shone from the other end and the other spirit appeared. It looked just like the one from the painting, dressed in its royal blue and gold outfit. He took one look at the other ghost and his mouth fell open. He held out his arms for someone and beckoned the other spirit to come. 

The two ghosts ran towards each other, blowing out the lights in the candles. They had finally seen each other after many years. Both met up in the middle and threw their arms around each other. The entire room was dark but they were together again. Slowly, they faded away into the darkness. They were reunited.

"It's over..." Phichit whispered as he taped the whole thing. "We did it. We did it before midnight and now they're together."

"Thank God. Maybe now Victor will wake up." Chris sighed. "I'm amazed this actually worked."

“Hopefully, the exchange was stopped in time.” Yuuri added. “We did this before midnight so it should work. It has to work.”

Yuuri had hoped that the reunion between the ghosts would be enough to wake up Victor. However, when he went to his room, Yakov was waiting for him with grave news. He felt his breath growing shorter as he expected bad news. There were many people standing around and plenty skaters and fans who were crying. 

“What’s going on?” Chris asked. 

“I don’t know but I don’t like the looks of it.” Phichit said.

Yuuri slowly approached Yakov, moving away from the crying fans. So many of the were sobbing Victor’s name and wishing that this wasn’t true. Even Yakov looked like he had been crying. They had never seen him so devastated before.

“What happened?” Yuuri asked, feeling something horrible inside. “How is Victor?” 

"He stopped breathing." Yakov told him, his voice sounding like it was miles away. "He is cold. I think..." Now he was choked up. "I'm sorry. I can't..."

"What do you mean?" Yuuri asked.

"I'm afraid Victor's time has come." Yakov looked down at the ground, trying hard not to cry. "He just...Vitya...he’s not..."

"He’s not what?" He didn't want to believe what he had heard. "That can't be! It wasn't past midnight yet! There was still time!"

"Yuuri, I'm afraid we all have to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” Yuuri repeated. “What are you saying?”

“Victor is no more, Yuuri. He’s gone."

[](http://tinypic.com?ref=5pg180)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *avoids the knives* 
> 
>  
> 
> **Make note that this fic has a happy ending and doesn't have the character death warning!**
> 
>  
> 
> One more chapter to go and you'll see how it's all resolved! Trust me!


	7. Chapter 7

Yuuri had a hard time processing what he had heard. He didn’t want to believe it. “Gone?”

“He’s dead, Yuuri. Victor is dead. He just passed away a few minutes ago. I didn’t want anyone else to know yet but…” He looked around at the fans. “The news spread quickly. Someone found out and now the media wants to know everything.”

“He’s right.” Phichit whispered, holding up his phone. “The number one trending news in the world is that Victor Nikiforov has died.”

"No way!" Yuri cut in, trying to get into the room. He tried to kick the door down but Otabek held him back. "Fuck, no! I swear if that geezer dies, I'll never forgive him! I'll never_" Tears welled up in his eyes though he tried his hardest to hide them. "Fuck! FUCK, LET ME GO! He can't be dead! I won't accept it! He can't! He_"

"Yura..." Otabek tried to calm him down, holding him. He saw Yuuri's blank face as he was allowed in the room. "Please..."

"Let me go! I..." It was too much. He was crying now and desperate to see Victor. He didn't want to believe that the five-time world champion was dead. "No, no, I’m not accepting! He’s not dead! It wasn't time for him to go! We did everything right! Fuck that exchange! We can’t be late! How can he leave like that?!"

"It will be all right." Otabek whispered, trying to calm him down. Inside, he also felt the pain. He knew how much Victor meant to Yuri. He meant a lot to everyone. "You have to be strong."

"Fuck being strong!" Yuri snapped, burying his face into Otabek's shoulder. He didn't care who saw this right now. He felt like crying and he was going to do it. “Fuck, we were too late! How?! It wasn’t midnight yet! Why did he die like that?! WHY?! We still had time! WE HAD TIME!” 

Everyone else was as baffled as he was, unsure of what to do. They were all trying to calm Yuri down but Yuuri was lost. He didn’t feel like this was reality. They did have time. The exchange couldn’t have been completed if the ghosts were reunited. It was well before midnight when they pulled this off. Why wasn’t Victor strong enough to hold on?

“I want to see him.” Yuuri whispered. “I have to be sure.”

“Of course. I’ll only let you in though.” Yakov whispered. “Do you want me inside?”

“No, I want to be alone. I have to be alone with him for a little bit.”

“I understand. If you need anything, I’m out here.” 

Yuuri's mind was in another world as he stepped into the room and looked down at Victor's body. He was so peaceful and beautiful even though his face was pale and his lips were now bluer than before. The room was warm yet Victor's body was cold. It couldn't be. They had done everything before midnight so why was he dead? The exchange couldn’t have taken place. Why would Victor do this? 

"Victor?" Yuuri began, trying to push his anxiety down. The last thing he wanted was a panic attack. "No, no, you can't be dead! You can't leave me!" He ran to the side of the bed and held Victor's limp hand. It was freezing but he didn't want to let him go. "Please! I did everything to save you and..." It was too much for him. Tears formed in his eyes as he looked down at Victor's face. "I'm sorry! I tried so hard! I thought I could save you and I didn't! Why would you ever exchange your life like that?! What made you think I’d be okay with that?!”

The tears kept rolling down and he began to apologize for it. “I’m sorry, Victor. I’m so sorry. I should have been a lot faster. I should have realized all this sooner. You’ve always been there for me and I let you down. You never got to kiss my gold medal!”

He leaned down and wondered if he could give him one last kiss. In fairy tales, princesses woke up from deep sleep with a kiss from their prince. He was no prince but it was a shot. At the very least, he wanted to feel those lips against his. Cold or not, he wanted to say goodbye. As the tears feel, he moved in closer and kissed Victor's lips. The lips felt like ice but he never wanted to pull away.

"I'm sorry. I love you." He whispered. "I guess it wasn't enough."

He put his head on Victor's chest, knowing that he wouldn't hear a heartbeat. If he had stopped breathing, it was over. The ghosts might have been reunited and they wouldn't haunt the hotel anymore but Victor was gone.

Suddenly, he felt something underneath. Yuuri wiped his eyes and wondered if he imagined this. No, it was real. Victor's hand was moving. His fingers were moving. Then his eyelids were fluttering and he was starting to breath. He moaned a little bit and rolled a bit while he was coming around. 

"Victor?" Yuuri looked down at him. "Victor, can you hear me?!"

"Yuuri?" Victor murmured, finally opening his eyes. He looked completely exhausted but was alive. Slowly, his mouth spread into a smile. "Yuuri, where am I?"

"Victor!" Yuuri didn't bother answering the question right now. He fell on top of Victor's chest and listened to his heart beating. It was there. "Oh, Victor, you're okay! You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive. What happened?"

"So much. I'll tell you later but..." Yuuri found the tissues on the nightstand and grabbed them. "I thought I lost you forever. When you wouldn't wake up, I...I didn't know what I would do without you! You had everyone scared. Do you know who did this to you? What was the last thing you remember?"

"I can never leave you! I don't remember much but I felt like I was stuck. I remember making a deal with someone. A life for a life." Victor explained. "I was dreaming and that evil spirit kept dragging me into the cold ice. I kept getting pushed down in the water and I couldn't get out. Now until now. It wasn’t until I said yes to the deal that everything stopped. The pain stopped." He tried to sit up but Yuuri's body was on top of him. "I'm still very cold."

"Oh, let me turn up the heat. I better let everyone else know you're okay. They are all worried about you."

"What for? I'm all right. I only had nightmares."

"About the nightmares, I think they're over now. They're over for good." Yuuri assured him, fixing the thermostat so the room warmed up. "No demons are going to chase you anymore."

"Really?"

"Really. They're gone."

Once the others were told that Victor was alive, Yuri broke into the room and began to yell at Victor. Social media was buzzing again with the news that Victor Nikiforov was very much alive. He had just been put in a deep sleep and now was better. Their only issue now was dealing with Yuri. He was angry over everything but relieved that Victor wasn't dead. He told him that he didn't want to go on the ice again if Victor died. Otabek had to keep holding him back and calming him down.

"Fuck you, old man! Never do that to me again!" Yuri finished off, taking a deep breath. "I don't want to be in a world where Victor Nikiforov is dead. I have to beat you in competition one day. Beating your record wasn't enough. You can’t die yet! Don’t you ever exchange your life for another life!” 

"Please forgive him. He's a little excited. He thought you had died and he's glad that this isn't the case." Otabek apologized. "For what it is worth, I am glad that you are all right too."

"Yeah, we can't let you go that easily." JJ grinned. "I have to beat you in competition one day too. It’s not fun if you’re not around."

Yakov could hardly believe what had happened. He nearly burst into tears when he saw that Victor was healthy and alive. The color was slowly coming back into his face. It looked like he had just woken up from a long nap, not that he was near death. He didn't believe everyone's stories about what went down.

"I'm glad you are alive. You have given me plenty of scares in the past, Vitya." Yakov told him. "However, the one thing I never wanted was for you to go before me. It wouldn't feel right if you did."

"I'm never leaving you." Victor promised. "What would you do without me?"

"I don't want to think about it."

Everyone had their chance talking to him but Yuuri lingered around because there was still more he had to say. He didn't want to leave Victor alone after they had come so close to losing him. Once everything was over, he went over to Victor's side and sat down on the edge of the bed. It felt so strange. They were just minutes from losing him and now he was back to his normal self. He was smiling, laughing, and being his lovable self.

"How do you feel?" Yuuri asked. "Do you need to see a doctor?"

"I'm fine. I don't know what happened to me but I am all right." Victor nodded. "What about the ghosts?"

"Gone. For good." Yuuri lay down next to him. "I don't think they'll be bothering this place anymore. They found each other again and they're finally resting in peace. We can go back to our normal lives tomorrow."

"I'm glad because tomorrow you will have to run ten miles!" Victor's grin widened. "We still have a competition to win and I want to kiss that gold."

Yuuri groaned. "But ten miles?"

"Don't think I didn't notice you slacking off!"

"I was trying to get rid of ghosts that were trying to kill you! Besides, you’re the one who decided to exchange your life to get a ghost in this world! I should be punishing you for putting me through all this!"

“You’re going to punish your coach? Fine, you have to run twenty miles now!”

“Victor!”

When he heard himself say all that out loud, Yuuri began to laugh and Victor soon joined in. It felt good to be happy again. It felt good to smile and just hang around with Victor. They had each other and they would be fine. Yuuri wrapped his arms around Victor and felt his warm body against his. He was glad that they were both alive. The nightmares would end. Nothing would haunt them. 

All the ghosts were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Boo! :)**
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry for the scares but I could never hurt my boys or separate them that way. And that is it for my fic! Thank you all for reading! Thank you to the mods of BBOI and all the people who have listened to me not reveal this fic until the end XD. Thank you to my artists for pinching in at the last minute. I know it's not the typical YOI fanfic but I was hungry to do something out of the box for me.


End file.
